Kiambu County had 137 new cases of SGBV in 2023 - report

Kiambu County reported about 137 new cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) IN 2023, a report by the National Syndemic Disease Control Council (NSDCC) shows.

This represents 34 per cent of all the cases reported nationally.

The report shows an eight-fold surge of SGBV-reported cases not only in Kiambu County but in the whole country with cases rising from about 2,466 in 2016 to 20,053 in 2023.

The United Nations defines Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting.

According to Marion Mashoo, NSDCC Regional HIV Coordinator, Sexual violence not only violates an individual’s rights but also heightens the risk of HIV infection and unintended pregnancies.

“Kenya is committed to ending AIDS as a public health threat and addressing all forms of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) by 2030. To accomplish this the government has partnered and is continuing to call upon all relevant stakeholders in government and private sectors fight the menace,” Mashoo said.

She spoke while attending a SGNBV technical working committee meeting held in Ruiru Subcounty.

The NSDCC Regional HIV Coordinator in charge of Nairobi, Kiambu and Kajiado counties further said there is a big correlation between SGBV cases, HIV infections and unintended pregnancies hence the surge of any of these can hinder the national agenda of ending HIV in 2030.

She said that there has been a rise in cases of SGBV in the last seven years in the country, with Kiambu County reporting 18 cases only in 2016 against 137 cases in 2023.

“Thika Subcounty topped the list of reported SGBV cases in Kiambu county at 52 per  cent, followed by Githunguri 26.7 per cent and Kiambu at 20 per cent other are Juja, Lari and Limuru all at 16 per cent while the rest reported less than five per cent of all SGBV cases reported in the county,” Mashoo said.

On her part Olympia Karimi, the director State Department of Gender said the county has made strides in coming up with SGBV reporting, monitoring and evaluation frameworks that have since influenced quick response to SGBV cases in the county.

“Since we launched the data collection late last year, we have been able to get more comprehensive data which guides our actions,” Karimi said.

Karimi said the tool has also helped in identifying the regions that need more involvement and sensitisation thus ensuring that everybody in the county is accounted for.

“With such interventions being implemented and partnerships with relevant stakeholders in our community we are positive that the numbers of SGBV cases will start to go down,” she said.

According to National Syndemic Disease Control Council 2019 survey, 46 per cent of women and 52 per cent of men aged 18 to 24 in Kenya reported experiencing at least one form of violence during their childhood.

In addition, between 2016 to 2023, the proportion of reported sexual and gender-based violence cases perpetrated against children and adolescents aged 10 to 17 were relatively high at 87,500.