Mt. Elgon Sub County Deputy County Commissioner Mr. David Kosgey has launched the month of August as the official teen pregnancy awareness month.
Speaking at Kapsokwony while engaging stakeholders, Kosgey said this decision was reached after a report from Ministry of Education indicated that cases of teen pregnancy was on the rise in the county.
He noted that Bungoma County was ranked among those that had the highest numbers of teenage pregnancies, adding that most of the girls gave birth just before, during or immediately after the national examination.
“In such a situation most girls fail to perform in the examination because of the status in which they are in,” he said.
He noted that teen pregnancy awareness will be marked yearly until the cases will be at zero per cent.
The Deputy county commissioner noted that the activities will also spread to the 10 sub counties in Bungoma targeting various groups including girls who are the main victims, boys, parents, community, the religious fraternity, and mass media among others.
He said the exercise will encompass various ways of creating the awareness like social media platform, electronic, print media, posters, banners, guidance and counselling session in all primary and secondary schools in the county to convey a message on teen pregnancy awareness.
Kosgey directed all organisations dealing with children welfare to join in the war against teen pregnancy. He also urged the organisation to document their activities that will be showcased at a later day of the month.
The deputy county commissioner further urged the relevant stakeholders to establish factors contributing to teen pregnancies in their various organisations and come up with home based solutions as part of mitigation measures.
He also asked the stakeholders not to forget community living along and in the forest since most cases have been reported in such areas.
The administrator asked the electronic media to set some airtime daily and have live talk shows more so local radio stations to talk about teen pregnancy awareness in the month of August.
Stakeholders identified women and girls who have overcome teen pregnancy to be ambassadors of the teen awareness month.
Kosgey said that the climax of the awareness month will be held later in the month at a place where there are numerous cases of teenage pregnancies after receiving a report from relevant stakeholders.
The exact day of the event will be referred to as Mt. Elgon Adolescent open day, where organizations dealing with children affairs will pitch camp and showcase their engagement during the awareness month.
Collins Kibet representing AMFREF said that the activity would have been launched at the beginning of month but it was delayed due to unavoidable circumstances.
However, he assured stakeholders that come 2022 his team will work hard to ensure that the activity starts at the beginning of the month.
By Douglas Mudambo
