Power to Youth’s Adolescent Talk a Welcome to Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health Challenges

On June 10, 2022, Power to Youth, a project of Amref, that helps champion the rights of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) from underserved communities, held a Twitter discussion to understand Kenyan adolescents and how the society can support their general well-being.

Dubbed the Adolescent Talk, the discussion was necessitated by the need to address the various challenges Kenyan adolescents face regarding sexual-reproductive health.

As in other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, adolescents in Kenya face severe challenges to their lives and general well-being, particularly in relation to their sexual and reproductive health (SRH).

Poor SRH outcomes in adolescence have long-term adverse effects on health, wellness, and productivity.

Adolescents in Kenya face many SRH challenges, including early pregnancy, STIs and HIV, related adverse health, and social and economic consequences. This is mainly because many adolescents begin engaging in sex during adolescence and lack access to comprehensive SRH information and services.

A number of factors predispose adolescents to poor SRH, including socioeconomic status, harmful traditional practices, SGBV, alcohol and drug abuse, and other structural factors that marginalize adolescents.

With Kenya’s health system having the inadequate capacity to offer comprehensive SRH services, there is limited access to SRH services for adolescents. Only 10 percent of health facilities countrywide were offering youth-friendly health services.

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As such, there is an urgent need to advocate for:

• Improved access to comprehensive sexuality education
• Supporting implementation of the SRH components of the School Health Policy, including rolling out the HPV vaccination
• Supporting monitoring and evaluation of the delivery of Life skills education and comprehensive sexuality education in schools
• Support the development and implementation of the return to school guidelines.

The purpose of the talk, therefore, was to help foster and develop increased learning and development opportunities for young people by encouraging and supporting them to contribute, steer initiatives, and lead their own youth-led movements.

With an urgent need to generate in the community a sense of responsibility and change of attitude towards adolescents in creating a safer environment for growth, the Adolescent Talk couldn’t come at a better time.

The discussion featured Benard Kigen, the National Council For Population and Development; Patricia Nudi Orawo, Africa’s regional coordinator – PUSH Campaign Founder -STADA Kenya, and Mss. Faith Kitipo, a High School teacher SRHR Champion at CAFGEM (Kajiado).

It also emphasized promoting and enabling a legal and socio-cultural environment for providing SRH information and services for adolescents, as well as supporting adolescent participation and leadership in SRH planning and programming at all levels.

Follow how the conversation went online using the hashtags #AdolescentsTalk #Power2YouthKE. Perhaps you will learn a thing or two about how to build strong relationships with youth-led and women-led organizations that share our aims.

This way, together, we can further increase the capacity of young people to build on their skills and attitudes for their personal growth and their community’s long-term success and development.