98 Adolescents Are Infected With HIV Weekly In Kenya, Report

According to a new statistic released by the Ministry of Health, an average of 98 new HIV infections have been recorded among adolescents in the last year.

Adolescents and young adults aged 15 -29 contribute 61 per cent of all new adult HIV infections.

Counties including Kisumu, Kisii, Narok, Nandi, Laikipia, and Tana River accounted for 72 percent of all new infections last year.

In 2021, Dagoretti North-Sub County contributed to 15 percent of all new HIV infections of over 430 adolescents aged 10-19 years in Nairobi County

The rapid increase in reported cases is due to three significant factors: the triple threat of new HIV infections, gender, sexual violence, and teenage pregnancies.

Further data from the Health Ministry and the National AIDS Control Council shows that new HIV infections and teenage pregnancies have been on the upward trend for the past year.

Teenage Pregnancies

The latest data by the ministry shows that one in every five adolescents aged 15 -19 is already a mother or pregnant with their first child.

Due to this rapid surge in the cases, Kenya now ranks third globally, with the highest teen pregnancy cases.

About 12,000 women deliver every year. Out of this, 10 percent are mothers between the ages of 10-19, according to the ministry.

Counties leading in numbers of teen pregnancies across Kenya include Nairobi, Kajiado, Homabay, Meru, Kericho, Narok, Kisii, Mandera, and Bomet.

These counties contributed to 56 percent of all teenage pregnancies among adolescents between 10 – 14 years of age in the last year.

In Nairobi county, over 6000 teens gave birth, and about 56 percent of this number Ended up HIV positive.

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According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 21 million girls aged 15–19 years in developing regions become pregnant yearly, and approximately 12 million give birth.

At least 777,000 births occur in the regions for adolescent girls younger than 15 years.

According to UNICEF, an estimated 15 percent of young women give birth before age 18.

When a girl becomes pregnant, her life can change radically. Her education may end, and her job prospects diminish. She becomes more vulnerable to poverty and exclusion, and her health often suffers. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among adolescent girls.

Adolescent pregnancy is generally not always the result of a deliberate choice – these girls often have little say over decisions affecting their lives. Rather, early pregnancy might result from little or no access to school, information, or health care.

On the other hand, teenage pregnancy also remains clear evidence of intentional and continuous unprotected sex among adolescents.

Gender and sexual violence

As of 2021, adolescents aged 10 -19 account for 53 percent of all sexual gender-based violence cases in Kenya.

The 2019 Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) found that 16 percent of girls and 6 percent of boys experience sexual violence before age 18.

When GBV is tolerated, there are broader societal consequences on gender equality. Victims feel less able to act, and perpetrators may feel immune. These feelings and harmful behaviours potentially perpetuate inequality and GBV more widely in society.

GBV is relevant to the HIV risk of young women and girls in more than one way. There is an apparent direct relevance when the trauma of forced sex of any kind – rape, dry sex, or lack of readiness – with an infected partner increases the risk of transmission.

In societies like Kenya, where unequal gender norms are still deeply entrenched, men are more likely to perpetrate sexual violence, pay for sex, and are less likely to use condoms when having sex with adolescents.

Intimate partner violence is also an indirect risk factor for HIV acquisition, as girls who experience intimate partner violence have more mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, higher use of alcohol, and less control over their sexual decision.

As the country makes some strides in ending AIDS in adolescent girls and young women as a public health threat by 2030, Kenya still faces a ticking time bomb of many women of childbearing age getting infected with HIV.

More than 1.4 million Kenyans are living with HIV as of 2021. Children aged 0-4 years accounted for over 78,000 of the infected population, with the vulnerability of adolescent girls and young women attributed to poverty, lack of education and work opportunities

Response

Through the National Aids Control Council, the ministry has launched a new countrywide campaign dubbed ‘End the Tripple Threat’ meant to end the three key issues affecting young and adolescent people.