MOH launches guide on adolescent, sexual and reproductive health
The Ministry of Health has launched an adolescent, sexual and reproductive health guide dubbed as “Understanding Adolescence: a guide for adolescents.”
The launch was presided over by key partners involved in the crafting of the guide together with key government officials.
This launch comes at a time when the Kenyan government is grappling with the alarm over the high cases of HIV infections among the youth.
The Ministry of Health statistics indicate that 51 per cent of new infections are among Kenyans aged between 15-24.
One of the key partners in the organization tweeted that the were elated to be part of the launch hoping that the guide will be instrumental in making sure that adolescents in Kenya are well guided through the most challenging phase as they get into adulthood.
“We are excited to join today’s launch of the Guide on Understanding Adolescence growth and development by Ministry of Health. The guide is designed to provide adolescents and young people with information on adolescent health, including sexual and reproductive health,” it stated.
The guide is expected to help the young adults cope with emotional, social or physical challenges. Other key areas that the guild will be focusing on include health-related challenges, drugs and substance abuse as well as culturally competent age-appropriate sexual health education for adolescents in Kenya.
A parent representative during the launch encouraged parents to have conversations about sexual and reproductive health to identify key challenges being faced by children without waiting for issues to escalate to levels where the issues are hard to be solved.
“Parents ought to invest time to discuss issues around #AdolescentHealth particularly their sexual and reproductive health as it would impact on both their sexual behaviour as well as lifestyle.” said a parent representative.
Dr. Sara Ruto, a Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Education indicated that it was the high time the young tax got the correct information about sexual reproductive health.
Ruto attributed lack of access to information to the high cases of teenage pregnancies.
“Inadequate access to correct information has been identified as one of the main contributors to teenage pregnancies, HIV infections, gender-based violence and other risks,” Ruto said.
With the launch of the guide, it is expected that it will be a useful foundational knowledge to the community.
