Adverse Childhood Experiences include experiences such as neglect, abuse, poverty and violence and can have a lasting impact on how a person behaves, what they think, and how they feel.
Speaking during the webinar, BMI founding director Prof Zul Merali highlighted the urgent need for cross-sectoral interventions to address the root causes of mental distress.
One in every five Kenyan adolescents has experienced four or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), placing them at high risk for mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety and bullying.
This is according to new findings from the study “Understanding the Lasting Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on the Mental Health of Kenyan Youth,” shared during the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): From Research to Policy Action webinar, hosted by the Brain and Mind Institute (BMI) at Aga Khan University in collaboration with the Shamiri Institute.
Adverse Childhood Experiences include experiences such as neglect, abuse, poverty and violence and can have a lasting impact on how a person behaves, what they think, and how they feel.
Speaking during the webinar, BMI founding director Prof Zul Merali highlighted the urgent need for cross-sectoral interventions to address the root causes of mental distress.
“Childhood adversity is a public health crisis that threatens the well-being and potential of our entire generation. Through this webinar, we aim to elevate research-informed solutions that can help Kenyan children not only survive adversity but thrive despite it. Our collective future depends on it,” said Merali.
The findings revealed that adolescents who reported more adversities were significantly more likely to experience mental health symptoms. The data showed that 24 per cent had moderate to severe symptoms of depression, while 21.4 per cent had moderate to severe anxiety.
Shamiri Institute founder and CEO Tom Osborn said that bullying was also strongly associated with high adversity scores, with boys appearing particularly vulnerable, emphasizing the need for urgent action.
“Young people in Kenya are navigating enormous emotional burdens. As a society, we can’t afford to look away. This webinar is about building bridges between research, policy and practice so that our schools become places of healing, not harm,” Osborn said.
The findings also pointed to socio-economic and family-related vulnerabilities where adolescents with only one surviving parent had 18 per cent higher adversity scores, and those performing poorly in school were 15 per cent more likely to have faced adversity.
Youth advocate Wangui Wanjuki said growing up, she experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences in the form of physical abuse, gender-based environment, financial abuse, parental alienation, manipulation from one parent as she called for discussions to drive policy making.
“It is important to not make policies in isolation because they are supposed to complement existing policies and laws without understanding whether existing frameworks actually work for the affected persons and that they just are not good on paper,” Wanjiku said.
The integration of screening tools like the ACE-10 into school health programmes, alongside expanded school-based mental health support, signals growing momentum in Kenya to address childhood adversity as both a mental health and education issue.
As the data paints a sobering picture of Kenya’s youth burdened by invisible wounds, this webinar took centre stage in confronting childhood adversity head-on, affirming a shared commitment to ensure that every Kenyan child not only has the right to survive but the opportunity to thrive.
The hybrid event brought together policymakers, researchers, mental health professionals, and educators to discuss how childhood adversity affects young people in Kenya and to explore practical, evidence-based strategies to build resilience in schools and communities.
