Teenage pregnancies high in major towns

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Nairobi and Nakuru are among Counties that recorded highest number of teen pregnancies in 2019./COURTESY

The number of young girls aged between 10-19 years who reported being pregnant in health facilities in 2019 was 400,401.

Out of this number, 20,828 were between the ages of 10 and 14 while 379,573 were 15-19 year olds.

However, the exact number might be higher because the data provided by the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) only includes pregnancies reported at health facilities.

Speaking during the launch of a National Campaign dabbed ‘Let’s ACT! To end teenage pregnancy’, NCPD Director General Dr. Mohammed Sheikh said that teenage pregnancies are a contributor to the high rate of still birth and premature babies.

“We need to have a multi-sectoral, multi-faceted approach to this issue of teenage pregnancy, starting from the community up to the highest level of government,” said the DG.

According to the data, Nairobi County recorded the highest number of teenage pregnancy cases with 2,432 girls aged 10-14 years and 24,106 aged 15-19 having reported to be pregnant.

Also read: Lamu records lowest teenage pregnancy cases nationally

Kakamega County came in second having recorded 17,555 teenage pregnancies, Nakuru County following closely with 16,764 cases.

Below are graphs showing how many cases each county recorded in 2019

Poverty, sexual violence, inadequate information on sexual and reproductive health, early sexual initiation, lack of formal education and drugs and substance abuse were among some of the reasons mentioned as drivers of teenage pregnancy in the country.

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