A Look at The Spike on SGBV Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic In Kenya

The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP 2020) preliminary result demonstrates the reality of the invisible voice of women in the world's news media 25 years after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. In addition, GMMP 2020 observes there is a gender dimension of the news coverage around the global pandemic in spite of a rise in sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

More critically, the stories related to the coronavirus pandemic resulted in both health and developmental challenges in people's lives, especially women and girls. Besides the numerous fatalities recorded across the world, there were more cases related to the socio-economic welfare of women and girls.

Notably, the pandemic increased sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), with most cases not covered by the media. In April of 2020, The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) projected that there would be 31 million additional cases of gender-based violence if the lockdown continued for at least six months and a further 15 million cases for every three months of lockdown.

The situation is replicated in Kenya, with the pandemic resulting in a spike in sexual and gender-based violence. The National Council on Population and Development (NCPD, 2020) report shows that two out of five teenagers in Kenya are either young mothers or pregnant. Data from Kenya Health Information System Survey also indicate that cases of sexual abuse on teenage girls who have been raped and impregnated between January and May 2020 in all counties stand at 151,433.

However, these numbers only capture the reported cases in health centers. Therefore, some cases of pregnant girls have gone unreported because the victims failed to visit health centers. By all measures, these numbers are high and have been exacerbated by the economic repercussions of the Covid-19 mitigation measures, which have increased stress, uncertainty, and fear among people. Furthermore, the closure of schools and limited mobility accelerated these cases.

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