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Impact of Covid on Children and Adolescents in Kenya

  • 1.  Impact of Covid on Children and Adolescents in Kenya

    Posted 06-26-2020 03:11

    With schools closed and reopening not known, kids and adolescents are becoming more anxious. Here national exams are usually done from October with those who succeed joining university the following year. Those from primary school also join high school early the following year. Most kids and adolescents fear for disruption in their earlier set goals of progressing to the next stage in their education cycle. As the debate for reopening of schools continue, others are fearing for possible infection that might accompany that. A new worrying trend since schools closed is the rise in teenage pregnancy. https://www.africanews.com/2020/06/17/close-to-4000-school-girls-impregnated-in-kenya-during-covid-19-lockdown//  This statistics are from a single county of the 47 counties in Kenya. As other counties continue releasing their statistics it could be more shocking. With mental health not given priority it deserves by government interventions to Covid 19, we see a looming mental health catastrophe. For instance schools do not have psychologists or counselors to address mental health issues among kids and adolescents. It is teachers who are usually expected to respond to mental health challenges of their learners as part of their teaching work yet they are not trained in psychology.

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    Stephen Asatsa
    Dr
    THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN AFRICA
    NAIROBI
    +254716842028
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