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Kenya: How Kenya Can Realise ICPD25 Commitments

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Kenya marked the second anniversary of the Nairobi Summit on Tuesday with stakeholders calling for reinforced action to realise the 17 pledges the country committed to in advancing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls.

As per the commitments made by President Uhuru Kenyatta during the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25), Kenya is to end teenage pregnancies and new adolescent and youth HIV infections by 2030.

This would be simultaneous to youth and adolescents ‘universal access to friendly quality reproductive health services and information.

Similarly, Mr Kenyatta had indicated his government would strive to attain zero child marriages in the next decade.

Covid-19

It, however, seems nothing is changing and the Covid-19 pandemic widened the unsafe environments for the adolescents.

Last week, the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) released a report that showed that 17 counties recorded an increase in pregnancies among adolescents aged 10-19 this year.

And it is from this age group that between January and October 2021, a total of 5,492 new HIV infections were recorded, in addition to 1,473 HIV-related deaths.

According to United Nations Population Fund representative for Kenya, Dr Ademola Olajide, mainstreaming the commitments would enable the country meet its targets.

“While Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted the implementation of the ICPD25 commitments, those commitments remain valid,” he said on Tuesday during the marking of the anniversary at a Nairobi hotel.