The Story

At the time of this publication in 2019, the teenage pregnancy rate in Kenya stood at 18%. There has since been a 3% decline as of 2022. As a core part of the editorial team at MCV Group, we worked with The Centre for the Study of Adolescence(CSA) to highlight the teenage pregnancy crisis with a focus on creating awareness of the need for comprehensive sexual education. The project involved interviewing high school students in Kilifi County to get their lived experiences on how a lack of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education affected them and their peers. The resulting publication captured some of the experiences with teenage pregnancies in their community, which resulted in school dropouts, ostracization, the cycle of poverty, and even suicide in some cases. The publication, presented in the teenagers' voice, also highlights some of the gaps in sex ed that contribute to the crisis.