Abstract:
Adolescent pregnancy is a global concern and worldwide. Approximately 16 million girls
aged 15-19 and 2 million girls under 15 years become pregnant annually (UNFPA 2015).
Globally adolescent pregnancy is likely to be high in marginalized communities that are
poverty stricken and with low education levels as well as low employment opportunities. The
highest adolescent birth rates are seen in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the
Caribbean at 104 and 63 births per 1,000 adolescent girls, respectively. In Kenya, adolescents
(10-19 years) make up 22% of the population. It has been reported that 18% of girls aged 15-
19 years in Kenya are already mothers or are pregnant with their first child. Wajir East has a
youthful population with young persons aged below 25 years constituting 42%. The
intervention strategies focus on creating a social movement that is empowering, engaging
young people meaningfully, improving access to information and services, and supporting
education and economic empowerment for young women. The age specific fertility rate for
girls aged 15-19 years for Wajir East is 118 births per 1000 girls which is higher than the
national level. Although interventions have been introduced to mitigate this social problem,
more needs to be done to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies which still have a
significant burden in our societies. This study therefore aims to identify significant factors
contributing to high prevalence of teenage pregnancy in Wajir East, Kenya. The specific
objectives of this study will be; to identify socio-economic factors, individual characteristics
and the socio-cultural factors contributing to high prevalence of teenage pregnancy in
Wagberi ward, Wajir East. Descriptive research design will be adopted in this study. The
study will target teenage girls with age bracket of 10-18 years who have had a teenage
pregnancy and not married and married. Wagberi ward will be purposively selected. Simple
random selection will be utilized to select the desired respondents. The sample size for this
study will be determined according to Fink (2001) and Sarantokos (1998) formula where a
sample of59 teenage girls will be selected. The semi-structured questionnaire will be the
primary tool for data collection. The information gathered from the questionnaires will be
checked for accuracy, consistency, and completeness first. The data will then be organized to
make coding and analysis easier. SPSS will be used to evaluate the data because of its speed
and ease of use in analyzing the data acquired, as well as its accessibility. To summarize data,
descriptive statistics such as percentages will be employed. Graphs, tables, and pie charts will
be used to present the data collected.