Sexuality education for Kenya’s youth: When the evidence is on the wall, but politics gets in the way

The need to provide sexuality education for Kenya’s youth has been the subject of discussion in Kenya’s development circles for decades. Whether sexuality education has a critical role in improving the sexual and reproductive health outcomes of youth, or not, is no longer the debate. Why? One may ask. Well, research evidence already shows that sexuality education reduces risky sexual behaviour among youth. This means that when youth are well-informed about their sexuality, then the likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behaviour reduces. Those who are abstaining from sex continue abstaining, and those who are already having sex practice safer sex. This means that sexuality education has potential to reduce teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortions, and HIV infections among other negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes in Kenya.

However, despite the strong evidence supporting the need for sexuality education for Kenya’s youth, the momentum the government had gained over recent years towards incorporating sexuality education in the formal education curriculum seems to have waned, drastically. To quote one development practitioner, the ‘matter was shelved.’