A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION PROGRAMMES TARGETING GIRLS BETWEEN THE AGES OF 14-18, IN KENYA, EAST AFRICA

Teenage pregnancy in Kenya, East Africa, has emerged as a significant public health concern because of its contribution to increased fetal and maternal mortality, increased spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the declining socio-economic status of women in Kenya. At present 25% of Kenyan females ages 15-19 are either pregnant or have children and 85% of females 15-19 do not use contraceptives. If the country fulfills its unmet need for family planning thus reducing incidences of teenage pregnancy, it can help Kenya significantly reduce the cost of achieving five of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) goals set by the United Nations. To meet their unmet family planning needs, youth nearing or entering their sexual debut need instruction on family planning/sex education. Comprehensive sex education, which includes education on abstinence and birth control methods, has proved effective in delaying sexual debut, reducing frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use. Comprehensive sex education does not encourage teenage sexual activity nor does it lead to early initiation of sexual activity. Instead participating in a comprehensive sex education programme improved adolescent decision- making skills and boosted self-confidence. An on-line search for functioning comprehensive sex education programmes targeting girls between the ages of 14-18 in Kenya, East Africa, was conducted from January to March 2009. Five programmes were identified: 1) Primary School Action for better Health, 2) Teen Web, 3) The World Starts With Me, 4) Tuko Pamoja [We are One] and 5) Youth for Youth. These programmes met the inclusion criteria used for this paper, all programmes are conducted in Kenya, were initiated after 1990 and are still running, target either adolescent girls or the general adolescent population ages 14 to 18 and must teach comprehensive sex education. Programmes that taught only abstinence were excluded. This paper discusses these comprehensive sex education programmes, examines curriculum design and content and critiques how effectively they met seventeen criteria of a well designed comprehensive sex education (CSEP) curriculum as outlined by Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist and one of the world's leading experts on the effectiveness of school and community programmes in the reduction of adolescent sexual risk-taking behaviours. This paper also discusses barriers to implementing nation-wide CSEPs in Kenya and strategies to improve and institutionalize available CSEPs