Moi scuppers sex-education plans in Kenya

President Daniel arap Moi and the ruling party of Kenya, KANU (Kenyan African National Union), have bowed to election year pressure from anti-abortion groups and Catholic bishops, including Bishop Alfred Rotich who led a anti-sex education demonstration in Nairobi, and shelved a sessional paper on family life education that was to be discussed by parliament this month. If the paper had been adopted, sex education could have been introduced in the schools and integrated with primary health care. The document would have been the basis for making students aware of the dangers of adolescent pregnancy, abortion, drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). 12% of the girls who leave school are pregnant or have married early; 10,000 girls become pregnant per year according to Ministry of Education estimates. The local AIDS council believes that the pandemic is on the rise among Kenyan youth; it is estimated that 1-3 million persons will become infected by the year 2000 and that Kenya will have more than a million AIDS orphans. Real intervention would be to create awareness and provide family planning services, according to the council. Bishop John Njue, Chairman of the Kenya Episcopal Conference, states that the Catholic Church will fight any introduction of sex education in the schools.