Times have changed, so they say those who were born and lived before us. Indeed, times have changed, even the current generation can attest to that.
Years back, talking about sex was taboo. It was a sacred topic that was only reserved for those ‘mature enough’. Purity was regarded highly and one could get married based on their virginity. It also determined the dowry that was to be paid.
With time, things changed. Sex stopped being sacred and graduated into being part of a biological entertainment. People started having sex for fun and even bragged about it. Sex lost meaning and it became a hobby where almost everyone is doing it and you are abnormal if you are not.
Then HIV and AIDS came in. Before, people were scared of it. People could not even move closer to someone they thought was HIV positive. People started using ‘protection’ during sex for fear of contracting the killer virus.
Somehow, young people discovered that HIV was not as dangerous as people were putting it and immersed themselves fully into unprotected sex.
Social media is full of young people bragging about sex. It is the in thing. It is the current sign of prestige among the youth.
I am not saying that all those living with HIV got it through irresponsible sexual conduct and this is not to discriminate those already living with the virus but to show the danger that is facing our current society.
Young people seem to be aloof of what HIV is and it is time we tell them as it is; HIV is more dangerous than what many people know because up to now, it does not have a cure.
Statics released last week on the state of HIV and other sexual related diseases among the youth should serve as a wakeup call. We should all be worried. The statistics were released, people heard them, put them aside and life went on as usual.
The study shows that girls as young as 12 years are engaging in unprotected sex that puts them at the risk of contracting HIV.
The study carried out in two informal settlements in Nairobi shows that sex among young people is on the rise with 90 percent of the young girls who admitted engaging in risky sexual behavior not being aware of their HIV status.
Data from the National Aids Control Council (NACC) show that although the number of new infections among the young people between the age of 15 and 24 dropped in 2017, the age group contributed 43 percent of the new infections. 26,000 new cases were reported and confirmed while 3,300 died of HIV/Aids-related deaths.
READ: Over 500,000 People Tested For HIV/AIDS in Kisumu County
According to the data, of 578 girls who engaged in sex in 12 months to the research, 20 percent were between the age of 15 and 19 while 80 percent were among 20 to 23 age group.
What is more worrying is that it is emerging that most women hate men who want to use a condom. Majority of them feel that a condom is not pleasurable as compared to without and most feel that a condom makes them feel pain. They, therefore, prefer men who do not use a condom.
30 percent of the girls who took part in the survey say that they don’t often use a condom. 23 percent said that they use the device while a majority of the girls aged 12 to 14 years said they do not use condoms during a sexual intercourse.
The survey says that 1 in every 20 girls who took part reported having had sex with more than one partner in 12 months.
Kenya has the largest number of people living with HIV/Aids after South Africa. Kenya has an estimated 1.5 million people living with the virus with an estimated 35,800 deaths due to the disease annually across the 47 counties in Kenya.