#whySHEmatters
Lack of SRHR services and information
continue taking lives of young women and girls in Kenya
By Esther W. Kimani - Executive Director YWLI
“I am so afraid I do not know what to do, I wish I was more
careful, what got into me really?” troubled young woman in Kenya.
The
other night I went to visit my friend who had
just given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Since the hospital was on the other
side of the town, the bus took a long time to get to the central business
district. It had rained heavily, flooding parts of town. Despite getting drenched,
or perhaps because of, my small umbrella, I decided to go to a nearby fast food
restaurant to eat. I was sure I wanted take away to go eat from home but when I
found an empty table upstairs I begun eating my garden salad with grilled
chicken. Sitting beside my table were two young women in their early twenties.
They were excited and speaking in high tones, having fun. Sitting there alone
munching my food I could not help but overhear their juicy conversation. It felt bad to know that I was eavesdropping
on their discussion, however I kept listening.
They are both local university
students. One is dating a rich man who has decided to buy her a car and she is very
excited about it. In the middle of the conversation, she whispered, “What do you think I should do about the
pregnancy?”. Let’s call them Abby
and Ally. Abby is pregnant and about to receive a car from this man. She is
excited but at the same time afraid because she is not sure what to do with her
unplanned pregnancy. Ally told her, “I
know that nurse in Kariobangi (one of Kenya’s urban informal settlements) who
will help us. She helped so many
other girls.”
“Is it safe?”
Abby asked. “I am not sure,” says Ally, “however
it is the best option since we cannot go to other hospitals. If you tell Abel (Abby’s
rich male friend) he will not accept responsibility and will not buy you the
car.” From the side of my eye I could see how afraid and shaken Abby was. In
a low tone she asks, “What if I die in
the process? What will happen to me? Do I have any options? Why wasn’t I
careful? How can I continue with my studies? Am I a bad person? What will
happen to me if I decide to keep it?”
Sitting there I thought to myself, this is one of the many lived realities of
young women and girls in Kenya. With lack of access to information and
services about their sexual and reproductive health and rights, many of them
make bad choices in such circumstances and end up losing their lives from unsafe
abortions.
Statistics indicate
that 29,000 abortions happen every year in Sub-Saharan Africa - translating to
over 79 deaths every day. These lives can be saved. According to a 2012 study by
the African
Population and Health Research Center and its partners, in collaboration with Ipas and the Guttmacher Institute,
found that nearly 465,000 induced abortions occurred in Kenya in 2012 - translating
to a high national abortion rate of 48 a per 1,000 women of reproductive age
(15-49 years). The findings also revealed that complications from unsafe
abortions continue to pose a serious threat to women’s health: nearly 120,000 women received
care in health facilities for complications resulting from unsafe abortions in
2012. More shocking is that, young women suffered disproportionately, 45
percent of women aged 19 and younger who went to a health facility for
post-abortion care had experienced severe complications.
With a constitution that allows
abortion only to save a woman’s life, and when performed by a health
professional, many young women still lack access to comprehensive safe abortion
care services and information. If people do not start speaking out about these
issues, many young women and girls like Abby will continue losing their lives. If
we do not demand action from the duty bearers, then we will continue having
these gruesome statistics. The journey to change
these realities and findings needs to start early, during adolescence.
Abby’s life and many other women and girls in the same situation need to be saved,
that is #whySHEmatters #WhatNereaShouldKnow.
Imagine Abby, Ally and all young women
in their early teens, Imagine if they had all the information needed in regards
to their sexuality; Imagine them living in a country that has safe abortion
services; Imagine them not worrying about unplanned pregnancies because they
are empowered with information and have access to contraceptives; Imagine them actualizing their dreams. Wouldn't this be a safe space and country for them? Wouldn't they participate fully in development of the country? Wouldn't they
make informed choices about their sexuality? The answer is Yes they Will and
this is #TheKenyaWeWant #TheAfricaWeWant #The WorldWeWant.
For more on IIE , ACE or YWLI please follow the links below.
www.iie.org/
www.iie.org/en/Programs/ACE-for-Womens-Leadership,
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