Sports and public health took centre stage this week as over 4,500 youths from across Samburu County converged at Kenyatta Stadium in Maralal town for the third edition of the governor’s cup tournament.
Seizing the opportunity, the National Syndemic Disease Control Council (NDCC), in collaboration with the Samburu County health department, launched a seven-day ‘End Triple Threat’ campaign targeting the assembled youth who are participating in football, volleyball, basketball, and darts.
Wario Boru from NDCC noted that Samburu County is grappling with the triple threat, which is the interconnected crisis of the new HIV infections, teenage pregnancies, and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) primarily targeting adolescents and young people.
Boru noted that the county is facing rising cases of new HIV infections and carries the highest burden of teenage pregnancies at 50 percent, according to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2024.
“In the new HIV infections in Samburu County, 40 percent are youth of between 15 and 24 years, so we have taken advantage of the tournament to sensitise the youth in a bid to curb new infections, encourage the reporting of SDBV cases, and end teenage pregnancies,” Boru said.
He added that Samburu is classified as a low-burden county with an HIV prevalence of 1.6 percent, which translates to 3,755 people living with HIV, which is considered a big number for a low-population county.
For the entire week, NDCC and county health teams are running advocacy campaigns and integrated health services through mobile clinics at the tournament venues.
“We are offering HIV, tuberculosis, and cervical cancer testing. We are also providing preventive services such as condoms and PrEP,” Boru noted.
John Letiwa, a community health worker, attributed unprotected sex with multiple partners, high illiteracy levels, and drug and substance abuse as major drivers of new HIV infections in Samburu County.
“Culture is another contributing factor since girls are married off at 12 years, automatically exposing them to child pregnancies, STDs, and sexual gender-based violence,” Letiwa noted.
The governor’s cup has provided a rare opportunity to reach thousands of youths in one location in the sparsely populated county.
The ‘End Triple Threat’ campaign is a national initiative seeking to eliminate new HIV infections, teenage pregnancies, and SGBV among adolescents and young people by 2027, with the Samburu outreach concluding with the tournaments finals on Sunday.
By Robert Githu
