Sixty-six per cent of adolescents in the country do not know how to use contraceptives, a new study suggests.
The report says that more than 66 per cent
of teens
want to know the different contraception methods that are available, while 62 per cent want to know where to get them.
The study was conducted by Guttmacher institute and the African Population Health and Research Center.
A total of 2,484 school going children between the ages of 15 and 17 years from Nairobi, Homabay and Mombasa counties were interviewed.
Sidze, the lead researcher
said on Wednesday.
“Studies have shown that this group is the most critical age period where the adolescent need to have adequate information on sexual reproductive rights,” Estelle added.
The study dubbed from Paper to Practice: Sexuality Education Policies and their implementation in Kenya also shows that 59 per cent of the moral talk given to teens by their teachers emphasises that sex is bad while fifty-eight per cent
thinks that sex is immoral.
“It has been proven by evidence that abstinence programs alone or fear induced messages do not work on adolescents. We do not to provide accurate information on this subject,” Estelle added.
Sixty-one per cent of those interviewed said they have substandard information on sex education.
Information on comprehensive sexuality education should be based on five main topics; Sexual and Reproductive physiology, HIV and STI prevention, values, sexual reproductive health rights, contraception and unintended pregnancies.
However, only two are being offered in schools i.e Sexual and Reproductive physiology and HIV and STI prevention.
“For us this is a bit problematic because studies that have been done on this topic shows that programs that are most effective are those who have a gender and SRH competent means that students in the country may not have access to comprehensive sexuality education,” Estelle said.
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