The article of Zulaika (2022) presents the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on adolescent pregnancy and school dropout among secondary school girls in Kenya. The cases of teenage pregnancy started in Kenya after the country-wide school closure that started from March 2020 and lasted until January 2021. Zulaika (2022) examine to what extent the pandemic affected sexual and reproductive health of adolescents in Rarieda subcounty. The study shows there was a limited involvement of health administrators on the issue of pregnancy among school girls. Teenagers lack sexual education and are not aware of different methods of protection. Health administrators should find this issue important as early pregnancy can be dangerous for girls’ health and lead to various socio-economic problems in the future. Moreover, if such a rate of adolescent pregnancy continues to increase, there would be less educated females in Kenya. Zulaika (2022) also mentions that stress level of pregnant teenagers is high, affecting mental as well as physical health of young future mothers. To tackle this issue, Zulaika (2022) suggests implementing population-level emergencies on girls that are going to school. Students should be educated for the basics of sexual education and for the side effects of sexual life. Furthermore, the article points out that infectious diseases can be spread rapidly if school girls do not know the importance of contraceptives. As such, there is a need to the national project of informing school students and their parents about sexual and reproductive issues. The effects of COVID-19 on teenage pregnancy are negative, causing additional social and economic problems not only for the pregnant girls and their families but also for the whole country.
References
Zulaika, G. (2022). Impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on adolescent pregnancy and school dropout among secondary schoolgirls in Kenya . BMJ Global Health. Web.