The rising cases of teenage pregnancies across the country continues to be a cause for concern.
The national government, therefore, through the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD), plans to develop a national strategy to tackle the problem.
NCPD director general Mohammed Sheikh said they are keen to put in place a strategy in the wake of soaring numbers that could leave many young lives in ruins. So far, there is no strategy to guide their campaign, he said.
Sheikh said the strategy will help the government come up with remedial action plans. He spoke in Kisumu during the launch of the county working group on teenage pregnancy.
"The strategy, once developed, will commit to leveraging on resources to address policy barriers and enhance efficiency in providing contraceptive information and services to young people," he said.
"We have never developed a national teenage pregnancy strategy, we have other policies but we want a national teenage pregnancy strategy.”
Sheikh announced plans to host a national dialogue on issues torching on teen pregnancies later in the year.
“In the course of this year or next year, we want to see if we can have a national dialogue; we want a forum where we can present all the evidence we gathered from the counties,” he said.
The country continues to record startling figures. He noted that annually, the country records 1.6 million deliveries out of which between 200,000 and 400,000 are deliveries of mothers below the age of 18.
“This is the most productive age when that girl is supposed to be producing for this country, not producing children,” Sheikh said.
Teenage pregnancy have far-reaching socio-economic and health implications among the young.
“The maternal mortalities are issues related to early pregnancy because they are not mature enough to carry pregnancy; that's why they die as a result of complications,” he said.
The NCPD will ensure all counties have a working group to guide them in dealing with teen pregnancies. Sheikh said there will be a scorecard for every county so they can compare interventions employed and the results achieved.
