•Dr Masha said they are also roping in men and boys in this campaign.
•She said that NSDCC has been working with the Judiciary to find the best ways of resolving the rising cases underage boys and girls having sex, which is unprotected by law.
Image: NSDCC
With one year to sit her KCSE in 2017, Achieng* did the right thing – devote all her time to study.
She left school late one Wednesday and as usual walked home just before dusk.
Then she met three men at a lonely stretch. “I didn’t think they would harm me,” she explains.
But one of them grabbed her and dragged her to the nearby busy.
“He raped me as the other two men watched over him and guarded him.”
After that she was so immersed in guilt and imagined it was her own fault, maybe she should have gone home earlier, maybe she should not have walked alone. She was afraid of the consequences of coming forward and wanted to forget it ever happened.
“If I knew what to do, probably I would not be HIV positive,” she says. Post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) drugs can prevent HIV infection, if taken within 72 hours of exposure.
Achieng has advice for men.
“We are just human beings like you. We also deserve respect and good life. If those men respected me I would not be HIV positive,” she says. Her father has never accepted her HIV status or the child that was born after that.
According to the government, many girls like Achieng continue to be defiled each year and are infected with sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Many of them are also impregnated and drop out of school.
According to the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council (NSDCC), 98 adolescents aged 10-19 are diagnosed with HIV every week.
This challenge disproportionately affects women and girls, mostly of reproductive age.
Cases of sexual and gender-based violence are also prevalent among women and girls.
The Ministry of Health says in 2023 it attended to 53,960 sexual and gender-based violence cases, mostly perpetrated against young women, girls and children.
Some end in unplanned pregnancy. One in every five adolescents aged 15-19 are already mothers or pregnant with their first child, the ministry says.
These three challenges are called triple threat.
Head of NSDCC Dr Ruth Laibon-Masha fought back tears as Achieng (who’s name has been changed) shared her story at Ndhiwa stadium in Homa Bay county.
She said these numbers must come down.
“Our girls and young women are facing a triple threat,” Dr Masha said. “The message is clear, it is not about reduction. We must completely stop and eradicate triple threat.”
The council has now set off a national campaign to end triple threat – new HIV infections, gender-based violence (GBV) and teenage pregnancy by the year 2027.
The campaign is based on the Comprehensive Commitment Plan to eradicate triple threat by 2027, launched by Health CS Susan Nakhumicha in February this year.
Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga, who serves as the vice chairperson of the Health Committee of the Council of Governors, was named the national champion for the Triple Threat and Triple Elimination Initiative.
Dr Masha said they are also roping in men and boys in this campaign.
On June 12, NSDCC will launch a strategy for working with men and boys towards ending the triple threat and drugs and substance abuse.
The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada), says 11.7 per cent of school going boys abuse drugs compared to 5.4 per cent of school going girls of similar ages.
“Alcohol and substance abuse disorders are closely linked to criminal activities, including sexual violence,” Dr Masha said.
She said NSDCC has been working with the Judiciary to find the best ways of resolving the rising cases of underage boys and girls having sex, which is unprotected by law.
"We have a Romeo and Juliet kind of situation that which the girl is a small girl, and the boy is also the same age-mate. This is a big challenge for the country and what we are going to be doing moving forward is to focus also on our men and boys," Masha said.
NSDCC also said this year's World Aids Day, observed on December 1, will focus on men and boys.
"The whole idea is even as much as we are speaking about girls, we cannot leave men and boys away from this conversation," Dr Masha said.
Image: NSDCC
Governor Wanga said sensitisation campaigns must focus on both men and boys.
She links most cases of early pregnancy and HIV to poverty.
“As we listened to girls speaking the message of poverty and peer pressure kept on ringing,” she said during a recent triple threat awareness day in Homa Bay.
“We need to pass the information about fighting triple threat to both boys and girls,” Wanga said.
According to the commitment plan launched in February, in 2022, approximately 75 per cent of the newly reported HIV cases in the country occurred among young people below the age of 34.
“This challenge disproportionately affects women and girls, mostly of reproductive age, with about 12,558 new HIV infections reported among them, compared to 5,122 infections among men and boys,” the plan says.
Secondly, cases of sexual and gender-based violence remain prevalent. The Ministry of Health in 2023 attended to 53,960 sexual and gender-based violence cases, mostly perpetrated against young women, girls, and children.
“Regrettably, 37 per cent (20,143) of these cases were against adolescents aged 10-17. Sadly 3,203 children aged 0-9 were among those attended in the health facilities,” the plan says.