Kenya Women Senators’ Association (KEWOSA) is distribution of free sanitary pads to schools by the State to help girls during menstruation.
Speaking during a visit to St James Nasewa Senior School, Lung’a Junior Secondary school and Indoli Junior secondary school in Matayos Sub County on Monday, the Senators led by nominated Senator Catherine Mumma, said they are pushing for the bill that will ensure sanitary pads are issued to the girls free of charge.
“We are advocating for sanitary pads to be treated like books in schools so that they constitute part of essential items when we provide capitation to our schools. As women Members of Parliament, we need to reach to the level where we budget and be able to take care of every girl. They should not perish because their family is poor. We are still pushing the bill in the Parliament to ensure this is achieved,” she said.
Senator Mumma noted that the country is facing a challenge from the triple threat which has affected the adolescent.
“One of the pandemics developing in Kenya is the issue of losing the life of an adolescent because of the triple threat. This includes HIV, teen pregnancies and gender-based violence. We have the highest virus prevalence among youth aged 14-19 years old, we have high GBV instances with low prosecutions, and many teen pregnancies in many schools.”
She at the same time expressed concern about the high rate of the teen pregnancies recorded in Busia County stating that there is a need to address the issue.
“In 2024, Busia County recorded more than 4,400 cases of teen pregnancy among girls. Busia Sub County had 767 cases. This is not acceptable and we must speak about it. As leaders from both county and national government, we should come together and ensure we manage this.
The Senator challenged the County Government to engage in ways that will improve the economic status of the residents to reduce poverty.
“One of the causes of the problem is poverty and the county government should invest better to trigger the economy for people to move out of poverty. If Busia County engages and promotes coffee in this county, I can assure that people will move out of poverty. County government and national government should continue working together to ensure this is achieved,” she said.
Nominated Senator Mirajab Abdillahi stated that the figures of the affected children are alarming and called for an immediate intervention.
“We have the statistics of the children who have been affected but we lack the statistics from the government on how many perpetrators have been arrested and charged. We want to meet all stakeholders so that we can come up with a way forward on how we can protect our children” she said.
Abdillahi called for proper enforcement of the law when dealing with the perpetrators so that they can receive the sentence that is equal to the offence committed.
Busia County Woman Rep Catherine Omanyo condemned the emerging trends of violence against women in the country issuing a wakeup call to protect women.
“Every day we hear an elderly woman has been raped, a teenager has been defiled or a woman has been physically abused. We need our society and even spiritual leaders to wake up and help to stop this mess immediately,” she said.
Omanyo expressed her frustrations at the lack of support from the Department of Gender and NGAAF towards the provision of sanitary pads to school.
“I want to ask the CS for Gender, PS and the CEO of NGAAF to ensure they release money that are allocated to help girls with sanitary pads,” she said.
The acting Western Regional Director for Coordination at the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council, Jenny Gakii said the triple threat remains a public health problem in Kenya.
“Last year we experienced over 2,799 adolescents acquiring new HIV infections. That means that every week we have 54 girls acquiring new HIV infections. We need to invest in adolescents and young people for us to have a bright future and generation,” she said.
Gakii stated that the country is experiencing an increased number of defilement cases highlighting the need of everyone to take responsibility.
“In our health facilities in Kenya last year alone, we reported over 17,000 cases of 10-17 year-old adolescents who had been defiled. We need all actors to be intentional and take responsibility all along from parenting. We are engaging in a multi sectoral program to help in dealing with the triple threat.”
By Salome Alwanda and Rodgers Omondi
