Teach sex education in schools, expert urges

Lack of education on sex matters in schools and early marriages are to blame for the high prevalence rate of HIV and AIDS amongst teenagers in Siaya, Kisumu and Homa Bay Counties, this is according to UNICEF’s HIV and AIDS Officer for Western Kenya Mr Jack Onyando.

Onyando was speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting at a hotel in Bondo Town where he said HIV related issues are never covered effectively at school level, which contributes to the increasingly high prevalence rate of infection amongst teenagers in the country.

He noted that comprehensive sexual health education entails education regarding human development and sexuality, including education on pregnancy, family planning, and sexually transmitted diseases, and lamented that the education system lacks a detailed curriculum through which adolescents can acquire knowledge on handling these issues.

The HIV/AIDS officer added that since most of the research on HIV/AIDS is done in hospitals and hardly in schools, even teachers have little information about the deadly virus.

“According to statistics 29 percent of those living with HIV are adolescents aged between 15 to 20 years, suggesting that HIV programs need to be moved from health facilities to schools in order to ensure the fight against HIV and AIDS among the youth is more efficient,” he noted.

He stated that cases of early marriages are high the three counties, a matter he says exposes the teenage girls to sexually transmitted infections. This exposure, he says, is mainly as a result of the fact that the young girls get married to older men who have had multiple sexual partners.