Calls to teach sexual health in Kenya schools raised

KAKAMEGA COUNTY: The Government has been asked to intensify school-based health and reproductive education to reduce early pregnancies and encourage positive behaviour change among the youth.

County Director of Health Dr Brenda Makokha said the programme needs to be taught in lower primary classes since children are now becoming sexually active at an early age.

The director said statistics show more than 38 per cent of school going children engage in sexual activity by the age of 14.

"We need our youth to be well informed. We advocate school-based health education so that our boys and girls are informed on sexuality and reproductive health. Reproductive education needs to be offered from class four," she said.

Dr Makokha said the curriculum should divert from teaching content knowledge and focus on equipping children with skills that will improve their decision making capabilities.

CHANGES NEEDED

"We have been focusing on informing and knowledge based education. We need to also teach our children how to be assertive, resist negative influence, access reliable health information and make proper life choices," she said.

Speaking at the launch of a project dubbed 'Stand up, Speak up' in Kakamega Thursday, Dr Makokha said increased cases of under age pregnancies, defilement and incest point to a fragmented and failing community.

"We need to address the root cause of these cases. We have focused so much on those who commit the crimes while forgetting the victims, their families, friends and society at large. We need to initiate a communication programme that advocates for strong social behaviour change in our society," she said.

Dr Makokha also observed that the community needs to be educated and informed on the importance of protecting children and how to handle defilement cases without tampering with evidence.