Through her initiative to support teenage mothers, Kakamega First Lady Janet Kassily has launched the County Gender Sector Working Group whose aim is to curb the constant rise of teenage pregnancies.
The First Lady has appealed to all stake holders from various sectors to put all efforts in the matter addressed and find ways to contain the issue and reduce the early pregnancy rate which currently is on the 25 percent mark.
“I call upon all stakeholders and body organs to work together to drive away this vice. Although there is a reduction in the number of teen pregnancies there is a lot that’s need to be done like sensitization and creating awareness in the society especially in places like Malava which is having high cases of teen pregnancies,”
According to statistics from Kenya Health Information System statistics the teenage pregnancies in the county stands at 12057 which is a current reduction from 16,969 in 2018.
Apart from sensitizing the matter, the county government also hosted a sensitization campaign in partnership with with United States of America International Development and USAID to sensitize Boda Boda operators on teen pregnancies and Gender Based Violence (GBV)
Stephen Shitanda ,chairperson of Boda Boda Medical Ventures, called upon the motorcyclists to continue being at the forefront in addressing the high cases of teenage pregnancies and GBV warning some of them of their character.
“Boda Boda operators are of great help since they are the ones who take pupils to school and bring them back home. That is why they are important ambassadors who links the vulnerable to the relevant bodies in the society,”
“We want to correct the bad mentality by the community that Boda Boda operators are bad people,” he said.
The campaign which is ongoing across all the 12 constituencies in Kakamega County will provide the Boda Boda operators with medical cover, licences and training to make them feel protected.
The county government has also launched a GBV rescue center in Shinyalu sub-county to offer refuge to victims of domestic violence in the county in June.