Religious Leaders’ Conference on Ending the Triple Threat Nairobi,28/7/2023

“Securing Our Adolescents”

Kenya is committed to end New HIV Infections among adolescents and young people by 2030. During the ICPD25 Nairobi Summit held in 2019, Kenya devoted to eliminate teenage pregnancies, New Adolescent and Youth HIV Infections, and other harmful practices such as child marriages.

Economic Planning Principal Secretary James Muhati said this on 28/7/29 when he officiated at the Religious Leaders’ Conference held at Ufungamano House in Nairobi on Ending the Triple Threat of; New HIV infections, Gender Based Violence (GBV), and Teenage Pregnancy among Adolescents.

The meeting was convened to deliberate on the need to join hands as multi-stakeholders to secure adolescents from these threats. The part of the population aged between 10 to 24 years old are reported to be highly vulnerable in the three triple threats.

The PS pointed out that the 2021 Kenya HIV Report shows that 5,123 new infections were reported among adolescents aged 10-19 years. Additionally, the 2022 KDHS Report shows that knowledge of HIV prevention is low among adolescents aged 15-17 years, where only 44 per cent are aware about it.

This calls for an immediate action to save a generation that is critically exposed to these dangers and poses a double threat to the future society and subsequently to the national development.

The government and religious leaders must work together to account for every Child in this country. The time to talk about statistics must come to an end. The conversations should now shift to talking about the children. Religious leaders go to the grassroots and their contributions to ending teenage pregnancies and other social problems cannot be taken for granted.

During the meeting, religious leaders who holds influential role in shaping the moral values in the society signed a commitment to participate in the campaign geared towards ending the Triple Threat among adolescents.

The meeting was also addressed by Dr. Stephen Jackson, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Dr. Sheikh Mohamed NCPD Director General and Dr.Ruth Masha CEO National Syndemic Diseases Control Council among others.