In the first half of 2020, about 152,000 adolescents aged 10 to 19 became pregnant. School closures and other COVID-19 measures made teenage pregnancy more likely, not less.
For a girl from a low-income community, a baby brings costs she cannot easily meet. At three diapers a day and KSh 20 each, diapers alone come to KSh 1,800 a month, before food, clothing and shelter. Many young mothers switch between diapers and cloth nappies, which is hard where water is scarce.
NairoBits set out to find 400 young mothers in under-resourced communities and offer them economic opportunities and psychosocial support. In four weeks the team mapped 102 young mothers in Kibera, with support from the SRHR Alliance, NipNap Diapers Kenya and Kibera Vision Achievers. The project is called #Young2Mum.
The first session brought together 28 young mothers at Canaan Hall in Kibera on 30 August. Peer educators shared SRHR information and referred the mothers to youth-friendly health facilities. NipNap pledged a packet of diapers each for 100 young mothers and created a discount package for them.
NairoBits also plans to use the project to follow how the return-to-school policy for young mothers is being implemented.
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