Every single day in Kenya, four people die by suicide. Most of the victims are young people aged between 15 and 29 years, according to Health ministry and World Health Organisation reports. It is a sad state of affairs. However, recent news that Colorado in the United States has recorded its lowest youth suicide cases in 17 years gives hope that suicide can indeed be prevented. Colorado’s inspiring story has been attributed to multi-tier school support programmes, rollout of ubiquitous crisis lines, peer-led programmes, adequate mental health funding, and implementation of data-informed strategies. Colorado’s first win came from normalising mental…
Author: By Sheila Van de Graaph
Girls in Loreng village in Letea Ward, Turkana West celebrating after receiving sanitary towels from Plan International Kenya during World Menstrual Hygiene Day in Turkana. [Mike Ekutan, Standard] Whenever Kiambu Woman Representative Anne Wamuratha talks about menstrual health, she always remembers how she first felt when Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamantangi launched sanitary towel drives across the county. “Why didn’t he call the women? This is women’s business…,” she recalls, adding that other women leaders in the county had the same sentiments. It was only later that she realised that the governor was leading the fight against period stigma from the…