Kilifi County referral hospital recorded an alarming 21 teenage pregnancies and 20 abortions during the month of January 2021 alone.
Officer in charge at the health records department Mrs. Linda Safari said the number rose compared to last year when 48 cases of teenage pregnancies were recorded between the month of July and September 2020 and 43 cases between the month of October and December 2020.
She said more than half of the teenage girls who fall victims are aged between 10- and 15- years while a few are aged between 16 and 19- years old.
Linda said during the six month period between July and December 2020, 98 cases of abortions were reported at the hospital revealing that parents and close friends brought those victims who had procured abortions.
“Records show that all the victims during the period were children from various primary and secondary schools in the County who had been sent home since March 2020 after the outbreak of Covid -19 pandemic,” she said.
Linda was updating the media Tuesday on the status of pregnancies in the county following the reopening of schools on January 4, 2021 in her hospital office.
by Harrison Yeri/Hamaibe Ipu
