Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has decried a rising trend of teenage pregnancies especially in Western Kenya.
He said the pregnancies are a crises that requires drastic measures to end the vice.
He said that data shows that western Kenya of Bumngoma, Busia, Kakamenga and Vihiga are leading in teen pregnancies.
He was speaking at the inaugural Western Kenya Women’s Conference held at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.
According to recent data by the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, these counties suppresses national vulnerability for girls which stands at 14.9 percent where Bungoma leading is the vulnerability chart at 18.6 per cent followed by Busia 18.3 percent, Trans Nzoia 17.8 percent, Kakamega 15.1 percent and Vihiga 7.7 percent.
“We are in a very deep crisis and we are almost going to cross the red line as cases of children getting children is no longer a joke,” said Mudavadi.
He challenged women to take the lead in empowering girls, protecting them and providing solutions to mitigate the teen pregnancy crisis.
The national statistics show that Kenya ranks third worldwide in teenage pregnancy numbers where one in every five adolescents aged 15 -19 are already mothers or pregnant.
Every year, an estimated 21 million girls aged 15–19 years in developing regions become pregnant and approximately 12 million of them give birth according to the World Health Organization.
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