ENTEBBE – Naguru Teenage Information and Health Centre (NTIHC) has urged parents, guardians and caretakers to have a discussion with their children regarding sexuality education and reproductive health at the household level so that they are empowered enough and avoid other people taking advantage of their ignorance.
The call was made by Mr. Asiimwe Sam – Head of Programs at the Center during the reflection dialogue on sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) and ending teenage pregnancy in Uganda with the media, youth movements representatives and NTIHC – 2023 in Entebbe.
The dialogue was aimed at updating the media actors on key trends in sexual and reproductive health including Gender-based violence but also to provide a forum for dialogue with the various media actors and youth movements on how to better deliver interventions in 2024.
Mr. Asiimwe noted that their findings through different research have shown that teenage pregnancy is still alarmingly high, especially in some regions of Busoga, Sebei, Karamoja and the West Nile.
“We have an agenda to serve and empower young people with information as they grow up so that they have a proper and smooth transition from childhood into adulthood so that they are productive.”
He added, “Unfortunately, most of them are falling away for one reason or the other through early sex exposure, drug use, among others.”
According to the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS 2016), nearly three out of five women (58.2%) aged 20-49 years of age started childbearing while still teenagers. Teenage mothers are more likely than non-teenage mothers to attain only primary-level education and six times less likely to complete secondary education. Data shows that teenage pregnancy is responsible for nearly one-fifth (18%) of annual births in Uganda.
According to UNFPA data, if no action is taken to reduce teenage pregnancy in Uganda, 50% of teenage girls are at risk each year.
In the period of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, over 375,000 girls across the country were reported to have gotten pregnant. Half of these pregnancies, (46 percent) were unintended and unplanned. Many of these are a result of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and gender-based violence.
Mr. Asiimwe told the press that their findings lately indicate that of those who drop out of school, almost half of them are out of the economy – not in employment, or education.
“So we are looking at how can we work together with different players to build their capacity so that they meaningfully participate and can take care of their selves but also their families and be involved in this discourse of their SRH rights.”
The other issue he highlighted was Female Genital Mutilation – FGM which he said that although in Uganda there are mechanisms for stopping it including laws, the vice has persisted.
“Sometimes, it is done within the community because the surgeons (local) are their aunties and close relatives but at times, they are closed over in Kenya to undergo the practice.”
He underscored the big milestones undertaken including the Sebei Cultural Institution, technical and political leadership to ensure that they can prevent the next cut.
Asiimwe says that FGM is dangerous and comes with adverse health challenges.
“During delivery, it causes a lot of bleeding, it can cause difficult labour and put their lives at risk. It can also stigmatize them.”
He, however, decried that not all of the local leaders look at the practice with the same lenses, noting that some still value the practice as a heritage they feel they should preserve.
