• Kenya hosts the 25th ICPD conference at KICC.
• President Uhuru has committed to end FGM, child marriage and violence against women and girls by 2030.
Image: FILE
Kenya will eliminate gender violence and child marriage by 2030, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.
Uhuru also committed to increasing access to secondary and tertiary education for boys and girls.
The President spoke during the International Conference on Population and Development in Nairobi yesterday.
During the initial conference in 1994, about 180 governments adopted a Programme of Action, which recognised that reproductive health, women's empowerment and gender equality contribute to sustainable development.
"I really do believe the reason so many of us have convened in Nairobi is that we recognise that advancing people’s rights, in particular, women’s rights, their choices and their well-being, is the path to prosperous and resilient societies," he said.
The country also committed to ending female genital mutilation, accelerating women’s equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political, public and corporate sphere.
"I would like to restate my personal commitment and that of the Government of Kenya to providing the leadership necessary to ensure that this practice (FGM) ends within this generation," Uhuru said.
In April, Kenya signed a declaration with Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia and Ethiopia to address cross-border FGM. Last week Kenya signed an agreement with religious and cultural leaders to end the practice by 2022.
The President further said since Cairo, Kenya has been able to achieve universal access to free primary and secondary education, 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary education, and gender parity in both primary and secondary schools.
"On health, I am happy to say that we have dramatically reduced child and infant mortality and maternity services and health services for children below one year are free in all government health institutions," he said.
He added, "Reduction in maternal mortality has been steady but slower, from 698 in 1994 to 362 per 100,000 live births today while the contraceptive prevalence rate has doubled."
The conference which began yesterday will have discussions on universal access to sexual and reproductive health rights as part of UHC, financing to realise the programme of action and ending gender violence.
Other discussion set to take place are upholding the right to sexual and reproductive health care even in humanitarian and fragile contexts and plans for demographic shifts to drive economic growth.
The conference will end on Thursday. participants include heads of state, ministers, parliamentarians, civil society organisations, grassroots organisations and young people.
Others include business and community leaders, faith-based organisations, international financial institutions, people with disabilities, academics and technical experts.