A young mother may need emotional support, acceptance, practical guidance and someone willing to listen without immediately judging her
At 16, Mercy, now 22 and a mother of one, was a high school student imagining her future when a pregnancy test changed everything.
“I was stunned when the doctor broke the heavy news to me. It was traumatising. I couldn’t imagine being a mother at 16,” she recalls.
For Mercy, teenage motherhood was not simply about becoming a mother before she was ready. It was about watching the life she had imagined suddenly become uncertain. Her experience is shared by thousands of girls across Kenya.
According to the Kenya Economic Survey 2026, adolescent pregnancies among girls aged 10–19 increased from 224,333 in 2024 to 235,938 in 2025. Among girls aged 10–14, cases rose from 11,126 in 2024 to 11,605 in 2025.
