Kwale hub of teen mothers, poverty and school dropouts

Despite recent gains, teen pregnancy in Kwale remains relatively high at 15 per cent among girls aged 15 and 19. [File, Standard] Mwanaisha Zecha, 20, has to earn a living: she has no option. She is a mother of two: a three-year-old and a nine-month old. Zecha sells different kinds of linen all over Tiwi, Ukunda and Diani areas in Kwale County. Profits are meagre. "In a good month I may make Sh5,000," she says. But in a world where every coin counts, nothing is to be taken for granted. "I could do well with a well-paying job but I am a Form 2 drop-out." Zecha was put in the motherhood path at 16. The man who impregnated her was a 24-year-old boda-boda operator. "He used to ferry me to school. During those trips he would tell me how he comes from a well off family." A wealthy family sounded nice. Zecha grew up poor. The relationship quickly progressed into sex - which Zecha does not find unusual. But also, she hoped, giving into sex would make him marry her. She says: "At 16 you have the same feelings towards sex like any other adult. Abstinence is good but it's hard for an adolescent with sexual feelings." Zecha did try one thing though: she went to a local public dispensary and asked for contraception to avoid an unplanned pregnancy. "I was turned back: I was told family planning is not meant for teenagers." The only other option was to pay for it but she did not have the money. It wasn't long before her tummy started to protrude. Thus, the first baby. A pregnancy disenfranchises girls: they drop out of school; some put their lives in danger through backstreet abortions; others resort to early marriage to avoid shame; and once the baby comes, the girl has to provide for it - become a parent when she is not ready or prepared for the role. Despite recent gains, teen pregnancy in Kwale remains relatively high at 15 per cent among girls aged 15 and 19. Kwale county officers, it seems, abide by policies on access to reproductive health services: which do not allow anyone aged below 18 to individually access contraception. Mohammed Mwachakure is Kwale County's Adolescent and Young People (AYP) Co-ordinator. He says: "For a young person to access contraception they have to show up at the health centre with their parent or guardian; who will be asked to consent." The policy applies in all instances where a young person cannot prove sexual activity. Parental consent wouldn't be needed in a case involving an emancipated minor. "Once a girl becomes a mother, they become emancipated minors. There is proof that they are sexually active and therefore they can access contraception without consent," Mwachakure says. As of 2022, the law explicitly demands that a minor has to be consented for by a parent or guardian. Section 16 (1) of the Children Act (2022) reads as follows: 'Every child shall have the right to the highest attainable standard of healthcare.... provided that the provision of reproductive health services to children shall be subjected to the express consent of the parent or guardian.' "Previously, before this amendment, the policy was friendly: young people could access contraception without a parent having to be present," says Evelyne Opondo, a lawyer and an advocate of the High Court. Indeed, as recent as 2021, some public hospitals were setting up youth friendly centres which would have catered to family planning needs of young people. The policies back then neither explicitly banned nor supported parental (or spousal) consent. The amendment to the Children's Act and development and adoption of National Reproductive Health Policy (2022-2032) marked the hard turn towards parental consent requirement. According to the policy, the government will prioritise abstinence and delayed sexual debut for people aged 21 and below. "That is well and good. But is the government's position informed by the realities lived by young people? I do not think so," says Opondo, who is also the Africa Director at International Centre for Research on Women. Opondo states that in many Kenyan societies many parents are conservative: culture and society have hampered parent-child relationships. Therefore, many sexually active teenagers wouldn't necessarily be willing to talk to their parents about being sexually active. "Yet, they continue having sex: they are exposing themselves to unplanned and risky teenage pregnancies as well as sexually transmitted infections. In my opinion, we should not make it difficult for them to protect themselves." John-Paul Murunga, a lawyer, oversees a programme known as Ending Sexual Violence, by Equality Now, for which Kwale is a beneficiary county. He says: "We see unusually high levels of child marriage, early sexual debut, and teenage pregnancy. This is the reality of Kwale." According to Murunga, laws and policies should make it possible to protect young people from unplanned pregnancies. "A minor being accompanied and consented for by a parent to access family planning is an ideal method to go about it. However, in reality, very few young women would be willing to walk hand-in-hand with their parent or guardian into a hospital for consent.

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