Uganda launched a campaign around the prevention of teenage pregnancy and child marriages dubbed “Protect the girl, Save the Nation” spearheaded by the First Lady and Minister of Education Janet Museveni, and Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.
The campaign calls on all the stakeholders and communities to take action to protect the girl child and to empower them with information, knowledge and skills to enable them to make informed decisions and choices to delay childbearing and build their potential.
The intervention came against the backdrop that teenage pregnancies in Uganda, the currently highest in sub-Saharan Africa, turned out to be a major health, social and economic issue in Uganda.
With the national prevalence rate standing at 25%, in the Teso subregion, for example, teenage pregnancy rates are much higher at an average of 31%. During the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown, about 67 000 teenagers in Teso got pregnant.
Ideally, one in every three girls in the Teso sub-region gives birth before the age of 19 (according to the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics). Uganda has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa with over 25% of pregnancies among teenagers registered every year.
The government faults the trend on immense sexual reproductive health problems. Enormous challenges continue to be faced by teenage girls in the country. Their early sexual engagement emanates from disrupted livelihood sources for families, limited access to adolescent sexual reproductive health information, and increased exposure to violence among others.
In the city of Gulu, exposure to transactional sexual relationships, influence by peers, inadequate information on sexual reproductive rights from parents, teachers, and health workers, and illegal use of contraceptives, have encouraged the vice.
Source: eNCA
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