My Health

Ministry of Interior to work with the Ministry of Health to address the problem of early pregnancies, HIV Aids and Gender Based Violence against adolescents

https://www.health.go.ke/

The Ministry of Health, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government andthe Ministry of Planning together with development partners have convened to explorestrategies for building on the gains made in addressing the three threats of earlypregnancies, HIV Aids and Gender Based Violence against Adolescents.

Kenya has made significant milestones in the in the fight against early pregnancies, HIVAids and Gender Based violence against adolescents and teenage girls. Cases of teenage pregnancies reduced from. 427,135 to 317,644 between 2018 and 2021. The rate of HIV infections among adolescent girls also reduced from 343 girls weekly in 2015 to 98 cases per week in 2021.Concerted efforts by Government and development partners have also resulted to a significant drop in the cases of Gender based violence among adolescents.

Speaking during the meeting in Mombasa, Health Principal Secretary noted that there is need for more concerted efforts towards eliminating the triple threats. “Kenya has a predominantly young population, we need to nurture their potential in order to tap the demographic dividends.” She said.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i emphasized the need for focused effortsbetween government agencies and development partners to address the triple threat. “ We must approach this agenda with a preventive lens through one Governmentapproach, the Ministry of Interior will work closely with relevant agencies to ensure that existing National Government structures are used as campaign machinery against thethreats.” He said.

The CS said that his ministry will work the Ministry of Health to develop training manuals to be used for training of National Government Administration Officers (NGAOs) on datacollection, data analysis and reporting on the three threats.