The National Syndemic Diseases Control Council has called for concerted efforts in ending the ‘Triple Threat’ of HIV, teenage pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health indicate that 691 children between 10 and 19 are impregnated daily.
Currently, Kenya is globally ranked 7th in the HIV epidemic with about 1.4 million Kenyans living with HIV.
At least 90 per cent of these people are under medication.
Wario Boru, an official with the NSDCC, expressed concern over the increasing rate of new HIV infections, with young people registering high numbers.
He was speaking at the Garissa University during a sensitisation forum for community gatekeepers and opinion leaders.
“If we continue with the rising new HIV infections, then this will be a vicious cycle of illness, treatment and death that will never end," Boru said.
"The sad thing about these new infections is that about 40 per cent of them are in adolescents and young people aged between 15 and 25 years.”
“The best strategy now is to prevent new infections. Unless we put concerted efforts in addressing HIV in our programming, we will not be able to win over this disease epidemic,” he added.
NSDCC programme officer Douglas Bosire said unlike in the 1990s and early 2000s where higher rate of HIV infections was in Nyanza, today infections have spread all over the country.
Bosire called on men to be responsible and avoid sexual relationships with minors who are increasingly becoming victims of teenage pregnancies.
The children are also victims of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and other health complications especially because their bodies are yet to grow to accommodate pregnancies.
“691 children between the age of 10 and 19 are impregnated every day. Where should a 10-year-old girl be? In school. But they are being impregnated and contracting sexually transmitted diseases. All this is hurting their bodies because at that age, their bodies are not ready for those changes,” Bosire said.
“I want to ask our fellow men, what would you do to a fellow man who has defiled your 10-year-old daughter? Why are we destroying the lives of our neighbours’ children by doing things we can never imagine being done on our own?” he asked.
Garissa Governor Nathif Jama called for formation of a county engagement committee.
This he said, will be tasked with looking at causes of increased cases of teenage pregnancies, HIV infections and the gender-based violence.
“We cannot continue watching this happen as leaders. I am proposing that we have a stakeholders meeting with all officials in relevant agencies to look at this matter more attentively,” Jama said.
“We need a team to look at these issues and come up with actionable recommendations to deal with this threat,” he added.
Garissa county commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo said parents need to stop shying away from having sex conversation with their children.
Mwabudzo said while parents are keeping quiet, their children, especially with the era of social media, are having sexual intercourse without adequate information on the consequences and the choices they are making.
“When there is a problem, we have to come out and call a spade a spade. Our children have been exposed to sex at an early age and we still feel ashamed to speak with them. We have to come out and tell these children the truth and the consequences of sexual intercourse,” Mwabudzo said.
“We have another problem, especially the Muslim community who are allowed by religion to have several wives. But do we have time to sit down with each of our children and families? How much time are we spending with them?” he posed.