Sex education rethink as HIV and Aids hit Kenya’s youth

A radical new approach to sex education has been called for in Kenya, where figures show 60 per cent of new sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and Aids, are in those aged 15 to 24. And that number will only get bigger if there isn’t a significant change in the sexual behaviour and practices among Kenya’s youth, argue health officials. A quarter of young Kenyans, aged 15 to 24, are currently engaged in risky sexual practices that up their chances of catching STI’s, found a study presented at the Second Scientific Conference at Kenyatta National Hospital.

The need to swap the country’s ‘toned down’ approach to sex education for a more aggressive approach, was among the key recommendations of the report. Social marketing campaigns and more youth involvement are among the other tactics the report pushes: “A critical aspect for success is to reach out to the youth and engage them in planning for activities and programmes that affect them,” said Jared Odhiambo, who co-wrote the study. He added that input from young Kenyans themselves had been badly neglected in the past.

Four in 10 Kenyan girls had sex before the age of 19, found recent study by the country’s Centre for the Study of Adolescence (CSA). It also found many had multiple partners and often had sex in exchange for gifts such as mobile phone airtime or food. "When you say four out of 10 girls have engaged in sex, how do we keep the remaining six from being lured into early sex?" asked Anne Muisyo, Abstinence and worth the wait” at Crisis Pregnancy Ministries a Kenyan organisation which works with young women dealing with unwanted pregnancies. “The window lies in counselling and education,” she told the United Nations IRIN news service,

Every year 300,000 Kenyan girls and women who have abortions, according to Ministry of health statistics. But abortion is illegal so many of these take place in back-street clinics. Unsafe abortions account for between 30 and 50 per cent of maternal deaths in Kenya, say the International Planned Parenthood Federation. "One person attending to up to even five women without sterilizing whatever instruments are being used can spread HIV," said Jacky Abuor, a counsellor at Crisis Pregnancy Ministries. The government's current HIV prevention programme for teens revolves around the promotion of abstinence, with a nationwide media campaign urging young people to "chill", or abstain, from early sex. "Sex education at the early stages of life and especially targeting young people can significantly turn the tide and prevent new cases of HIV," Paul Mitei, head of gynaecology in western Kenya's Nyanza Provincial Hospital.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children