MCAs meet activists to curb teen pregnancies in Nairobi

Nairobi MCAs are meeting youth organisations and girls’ rights lobbyists to discuss ways to address the teenage pregnancies menace in Nairobi.

According to Victor Rasugu, the director of the Network for Adolescents and Youth in Africa (Naya), the meeting is their first order of business with the new leadership at the county assembly.

Umoja I ward MCA Mark Mugambi, who is also the assembly’s minority whip, said the current assembly is the most youthful one.

“As the Nairobi County Assembly Youth Caucus, we hope to focus on matters concerning the youth, who form the majority of the people we represent in our areas,” he said.

Mugambi said already, the assembly passed the Sexual Reproductive Health bill for the county last year.

Back in May, outgoing Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache flagged nine problematic counties that were carrying the burden of teenage pregnancies in the country.

“Nairobi, Kajiado, Homa Bay, Meru, Kericho, Narok, Mandera, Kisii and Bomet are those carrying the highest burden of teenage pregnancies between the ages of 10 to 14 in the country at 56 per cent in total,” she said.

Rasugu said that Embakasi South constituency in Nairobi carries the highest teenage pregnancies burden in the county.

“28 per cent of all teenage pregnancies in Nairobi come from Embakasi South while four per cent, come from Dagoretti South,” he said.

The Ministry of Health data showed that one in every five adolescent girls in the country was pregnant or already had their first child.

“One in every three mothers visiting antenatal clinics across the country was an adolescent between the ages of 10 and 19,” she said.

Also present were MCAs for Mowlem East, Njiru ward, Zimmerman and  Highridge wards among others.