This archive report was first published on 13 July 2020.
Teenage pregnancies are a major global concern, with 21 million teenagers in developing countries becoming pregnant every year.
According to the World Bank, Kenya's adolescent fertility rate was 74 per 1,000 in 2018, while the Global Childhood put the national teen pregnancy rate at 82 per 1,000 births in 2019.
It is not surprising to hear of higher numbers of teenage pregnancies following the Covid-19 lockdown.
Factors contributing to adolescent pregnancies include lack of information about sexual and reproductive health and rights, inadequate access to health services, family and community pressure to marry, and limited educational and employment prospects.
Other factors include cross-generational relationships, transactional sexual relationships, and unequal gender power relations.
Prevention programmes are designed to increase abstinence, improve the use of contraception, and offer comprehensive sexuality education and youth development.
However, measures to curb teenage pregnancies have largely focused on females, and it takes two to create a pregnancy.
Boys and men should not only be held responsible for their sexual behavior but also targeted with interventions.
Involving boys and men makes programming for girls more effective by addressing both sides of the teen pregnancy equation.
Measures to reduce teenage pregnancies should include monitoring sexual activity and contraceptive use among teenagers, community-based programmes to educate adolescent boys on responsible manhood, and enforcing statutory rape laws against adult men involved with younger minor girls.
Parents should also be clear on sexual values and attitudes, talk with their children early and often about sexuality, and supervise and monitor their children's activities.
By working together, we can reverse the trend of teenage pregnancies and ensure that young people have the information and support they need to make informed decisions about their health and well-being.
