COVID-19: 4000 school girls impregnated during lockdown

Data from Kenya Health Information System survey shows that a total of 3,964 girls aged 19 years and below were reported pregnant during 5 months of lockdown, with Machakos County leading the chart.

“During this coronavirus pandemic we do have 4000 impregnated girls. These are so many innocent girls,” Machakos County Children Officer Salome Muthama said said.

She further reiterated that most of the cases were as a result of defilement by close family members, and adds that about 200 of these girls are aged 14 years and below.

“How can a 12 year old girl become a mother? All the people who have impregnated these children needs be arraigned but it is becoming a challenge. We need special court sittings to address and deal with these cases,” Salome appealed.

“Most of these cases you will find involve children who were taken from urban centres in the wake of Covid-19 and left in the hands of their grandmothers in the countryside as the parents returned to the towns,” Ms Muthama told reporters in Machakos Town.