Young people have continued to put their health at risk due to drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Alcohol, cigarettes and bhang remain the most popular abused substances in the country.
Nowadays smoking has been normalised as smokers blatantly flout the use of designated smoking zones to smoking publicly not minding the health of other people.
Young people are now practising this habit since the norm is widespread.
Gone are the days when one could be arrested for smoking publicly.
Currently, bhang is becoming the new normal being abused almost everywhere now that some officers are in cahoots with almost every peddler.
When the number of bhang users is analysed alongside data from police arrests, less percentage of bhang users in Kenya are likely to get arrested in a given year.
In many places across the country, young people are spending their time idling in groups where consumption of alcohol and bhang are common.
The effects of drugs consumption push young people to perform atrocities that range from violence, rape and risks of contracting HIV-Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases through unconsented sex.
Drug abuse among young people expedites the cases of teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
On the other hand, mental health is increasingly becoming a common problem among the youth.
Depression, anxiety and various eating disorders are the leading mental problems among the youth.
Failure to adequately address the reproductive health subject among the Kenyan youth is also another challenge.
The government should allocate resources to reproductive health programmes that target outcomes, such as reduction in STIs, HIV prevalence, curbing drugs and substance abuse.
Stern measures should be taken against those flouting the set guidelines and not relent anyhow to foster a robust and sane generation.
The government should inculcate rigorous life skills training in schools outlining deeper substance abuse prevention programmes.
It should try and adopt strategies to encourage youths to utilise recreation facilities and access economic empowerment programmes.
Also, strategies to control drugs and substance abuse by non-state actors, the capacity of legislation to deter drug trafficking, and the influence of government taxation policies on the control of abuse of illicit drugs and substances should be adopted.
Young people need policies that will address unemployment problems and create an environment where they can exploit their potential through value-adding initiatives.
Such measures will go a long way to assist the youth to overcome the challenge of crime, and drug and substance abuse.
The health system should also be geared towards the development of more youth-friendly centres to encourage them to seek help on sexual reproductive and mental health and also the launch of more youth groups and support from the government and non-governmental organisations.
The writer is an intern at the Centre for the study of adolescence
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
