KOT reacts to Health CS’s statement on denying teens contraceptives
KOT have shared mixed reactions to the statement made by Health Cabinet Secretary that she will not allow contraceptives to be issued to underage girls in Kenya
While others support the statement, others have strongly condemned it saying it will lead to an increased number of teen pregnancies and HIV infections among the youth.
This comes just a few hours after the CS spoke to Nation reporter Leon Ligidu in an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing African Union Summit 2023 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The CS said that by virtue of her faith which teaches abstinence, she believes that young people should be taught to abstain.
According to the CS, the youths are not allowed to have sex before marriage because it goes against the Holy book.
According to 1 Thessalonians 4:3, the Bible urges, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.
To the CS, the youths should embrace such scriptures.
Last week, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) executive director Winnie Byanyima who was in Kenya for a State visit, said that it is time Kenya allows teenagers to access contraceptives.
She highlighted that inequalities and injustices in our societies are driving up the HIV/Aids pandemic and making specific groups of people, such as young women and adolescent girls, highly vulnerable to HIV infection.
“Two out of three people living with HIV are women while in 2021, there were still 1.5 million new HIV infections around the world and 650,000 HIV/Aids-related death.”
