The youth in Kenya have called on the government to make sanitary products available for free to young girls in and out of school to help reduce the high rates of transactional sex.
The youth under the Sauti Sasa Movement have expressed concern over high rates of teenage pregnancies being recorded in the country adding that it is high time to engage the youth voices in developing effective solutions.
“As such, we are called upon to realize that this is a youth issue. Therefore, the youth must be empowered to fully take ownership of the issue and subsequently create sustainable solutions for it,”Rashid Mutaha, a youth advocate said.
They also want the stakeholders to invest in robust protection systems for adolescents facing any form of sexual gender based violence by implementing clear structures for reporting, profiling and documenting sexual and GBV at community level.
They want courts to give priority to child defilement cases and waive all fees related to the same.
As young people, we acknowledge that true change cannot be imposed for the outside. To be lasting, it must come from within. Through the partnership and inclusive dialogue, we commit to rally with all partners to ending teenage pregnancies,” Mutaha said.
Josephine Odhiambo, another youth advocate noted that to be successful, efforts to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancies must include all stakeholders and have youth and adolescent at all core decision making processes.
She noted that the recent speech by President Uhuru Kenyatta that raised alarm over the matter could not be more timely as the current crisis has amplified challenges Kenyan youth are facing, particularly teenage pregnancies where recent reports form several counties have indicated a spike countrywide.
“Approaches deployed for decades seem not to work and the voice of the youth continues to be left unheard in the corridors,” Odhiambo said.
She added: “We want the country to realize that we can propose impactful solutions to the problems that we ourselves are facing, such as teenage pregnancies.”
