State urged to invest in women's sexual and reproductive health rights

Marie Stopes Kenya Country Director Joan Oracha has urged the government to invest in the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and young girls in Kenya. 

Oracha said to achieve gender equality and address the population dynamics in Kenya, the government must prioritise the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls 

"I want to urge all stakeholders, including the government to invest in sexual reproductive health rights of women and girls as this will help us accelerate the achievement of the sustainable development goal 5 on gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls," she said.  

In her opinion, there are three critical things the government should do in order to improve the sexual and reproductive health rights of women. 

Oracha said the government should first ensure there is age-appropriate comprehensive sexual education to mitigate early teenage pregnancies and Female Genital Mutilation. 

She added that there is also a need to ensure there is access to integrated and comprehensive family planning services.

"These include youth-friendly services," she said. 

Oracha said family planning commodities should be available within all government health facilities. 

"When I speak about family planning commodities, this is something that I am very passionate about. Because when we say choice, choice should be choice," she said. 

Oracha said it is unfortunate that when one walks into government hospitals, the choice is limited to what is available yet most of the time it does not meet the needs of young girls. 

She spoke on Tuesday at the Radisson Blu hotel in Nairobi where stakeholders had convened to celebrate World Population Day. 

Among the key dignitaries at the event were Africa Institute for Development Policy Country Director Rose Oronje, National Gender and Equality Commission CEO Betty Sungura and State Department of Economic Planning Principal Secretary James Muhati. 

During the celebrations, Muhati said the World Population Day celebrations came at an opportune time when the National Bureau of Statistics just released a report on Kenya's Demographic Health survey. 

The PS data from the Kenya Integrated Health Systems shows that in 2022  more than 13, 000 girls aged between 10 and 14 years and about 245, 000 aged 15 to 19 were pregnant. 

"Kenya is committed to eliminating teenage pregnancies, new adolescent and youth HIV infections and harmful practices such as child marriages and FGM," Muhati said. 

Africa Institute for Development Policy Country Director Rose Oronje said despite the fact that the Kenya Demographic Health Survey report showed a decrease in the number of teenage pregnancies, there are still counties where the numbers are still high.  

She said one of the best ways of curbing teenage pregnancies is by keeping girls in school. 

“Education and keeping girls in school is the best contraceptive. Some of us are where we are today because we remained in school for a long time and it kept us safe from a lot of things,” Oronje said.