Nairobi youth use the World Wide Web to learn about sexual and reproductive health

A study involving more than 1,000 young people in five public secondary schools in Nairobi harnessed the power of the Internet to obtain important information on adolescents' knowledge, attitudes and practices related to sexual and reproductive health, as well as to educate them.

The innovative TeenWeb study - a collaboration between the Kenyan Ministry of Health, the Ipas Africa Alliance for Women's Reproductive Health and Rights, the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other partners - rewarded students who completed interactive surveys on subjects such as health care, substance abuse, partner violence, sexual experience, pregnancy and abortion with the opportunity to enhance their computer skills, broaden their knowledge of health and social issues, and voice their opinions on school and social policies. Researchers and the youth participants today released results of the 18-month project at a day-long conference at Nairobi's Serena Hotel.

"The TeenWeb project combines social and scientific goals to explore new paths for global learning and exchange on matters of adolescent health," said Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Ipas Vice President for Africa and head of the Ipas Africa Alliance for Women's Reproductive Health and Rights, which works to enable African women to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights and to increase women's access to high-quality sexual and reproductive-health services.

Findings from the project, which is the first major longitudinal study of adolescent health in Kenya using the Internet, could have important implications for public health policy and education. For example:

• Only 14 percent of participating students knew that pregnancy can be legally terminated in Kenya to preserve a woman or girl's health, yet 45 percent reported knowing a peer who had had an abortion.
• Only about one in five adolescents said they believed condoms are useful in preventing HIV/AIDS, and less than half said condoms help prevent pregnancy
• 96 percent of girls and 94 percent of boys who completed the survey believed that schools should teach family-life education classes, but only 77 percent of girls and 52 percent of boys reported having had a class that included such topics.

"Young people have not been systematically offered the factual information and skills that they need to make healthy, life-enhancing choices," said Brookman-Amissah. "The time to teach them is now."

Students who participated in the project reported a range of benefits. "It has really helped me in making the right choices," wrote one 16-year-old female student. Another said, "It has made me think about who I really am and the realities of life."

The TeenWeb project is funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and includes a concurrent study in Brazil. The full report on results from TeenWeb Nairobi is available on Ipas's website.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258