Shortage of condoms hits Taita making teen pregnancies to hit the roof
No Condom No Sex
Sex lovers in one of Kenya’s coastal County are suffering from an acute shortage of life-saving condoms and antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).
Taita Taveta County is struggling to address a shortage of condoms and ARVs in both public and private hospitals.
So bad is the situation that teen pregnancies in the county have reached a staggering high of over 2000 cases.
Also Read: My First Time Using A Condom & What You Need to Know about Sex
Speaking after chairing a quarterly County HIV meeting held at Voi youth offices, County Executive Committee Member in charge of Health services John Mwakima, said the County Government started experiencing the problem early this year after COVID 19 pandemic struck.
“This came about during the start of this year, we are running low on condoms and also running low on ARV’s,” he said.
Mwakima’s admission comes barely months after Haki Africa, a national human rights organization based in Mombasa raised the alarm only for the health department to deny the shortage.
HIV/AIDS patients were being forced to turn to private facilities for ARV’S where they had to pay huge fees for the drugs leading them to voice their concerns to Haki Africa.
The county government has since woken from the slumber and is working in partnership with various stakeholders to address the crisis. It has since rolled out mitigation measures including youth sensitization activities across the county to address the rising teenage pregnancies that has raised eyebrows among residents.
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