Over 13,000 teenage girls fell pregnant last year in Narok County

Some 13, 593 girls in Narok County last year conceived, representing 27.5 percent of pregnant women that year, data from the County department of health indicate.

Speaking during a gender stakeholders meeting held in a Narok hotel, the county Health Reproductive Coordinator Chesang Toroitich said the numbers were recorded from the first antenatal visits of the women.

He reported that among the pregnant teenage girls, 1, 203 were aged between 10 and 14 years while 12, 390 were between 16 and 19 years old.

The officer said the sub counties with the highest numbers were Narok south with 3, 300 pregnant girls followed by Narok North sub county with 2,500.

Others are Trans Mara West, Narok West, Narok East and Trans Mara East that had 2,380, 2,163, 1,750, and 1,500 pregnant girls respectively.

The meeting was chaired by Narok Governor’s wife Sarah Tunai and attended by key players in the departments of Education, youth, gender, information, Children, boda boda representatives and non-governmental organizations.

Among the teenage mothers, he said, 1, 170 were reported to have suffered complications relating to birth and were treated in the various health centers in the county.

The officer however informed the meeting that the numbers had reduced from 15, 000 teenage girls that were pregnant in the year 2020.

“The high number in the year 2020 can be attributed to the fact that schools were closed for nine months because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

At the same time, 19, 560 young adults between the age of 20 and 24 were reported pregnant in the year 2021.

“The age between 19 and 24 years is when the girls are supposed to be concentrating with their tertiary education, but we see most of them fall pregnant during this period. This trend is not good,” said Toroitich.

On her part, Tunai reiterated the need to bring all the departments together to fight the vice that was compromising the standards of education in the county.

“The number could be higher than the data given by the department of Health because not all the girls go for antenatal clinics or give birth in hospitals,” she observed.

The meeting also raised concern over increasing number of girls who suffer complications because of carrying out unsafe abortions.

The parents were advised to spend quality time with their teenage girls directing and modelling them to become responsible people in the society.