Low family planning use fuelling teenage pregnancies in Acholi
Photo showing contraceptives. In the Acholi Sub-region, the unmet need for family planning stands at approximately 39 percent.
What you need to know:
- Dr Charles Olaro, the Director for Curative Services at the Ministry of Health said the government is currently revising several policies aimed at addressing the problem of teenage pregnancies.
The The rising number of teenage pregnancies has been attributed to limited access to reproductive health services among sexually active youth in Acholi and West Nile sub-regions.
In the Acholi Sub-region, the unmet need for family planning stands at approximately 39 percent. This is compounded by the low consumption of modern contraceptives, mostly condoms as prescribed by the government for sexually active individuals.
Mr John Bosco Olum, the Amuru District community development officer, said most health facilities in the district lack facilities or safe places where the youth, especially learners, can access information on sexual reproductive health.
“We have serious issues of supply and stock outs in many of these health facilities. We also know that our health facilities are limited in terms of infrastructure to provide safe spaces where children can go or young people can go and access information about sexual and reproductive health,” he said.
Even though teenage pregnancy rates have fallen by 35 percent after the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Olum said that parents in communities discourage their children from accessing sexual reproductive health services.
Meanwhile, in Zombo District of West Nile, as of September, the prevalence of teenage pregnancies stands at 27.7 percent, higher than the national average of 24 percent. It implies that 27 of every 100 pregnant mothers who present themselves to the health facilities are aged under 18.
Mr Samuel Ucaki, the Zombo District community development officer, said alcoholism and poverty, which are the main challenges, force young girls to engage in early sex in exchange for material needs.
“We have a lot to do with alcoholism and drug abuse, the issues to do with the mindset of local people, many of the girls are driven because of lack of provision by parents and therefore, going for what we call transactional sex,” Mr Ucaki said.
Mr Bosco Odongpiny, the adolescent and gender officer for Lamwo District, said: “We do not have enough personnel to handle the huge number of both the nationals and refugees and the high numbers overweigh the limited stock of family planning kits that the government dispatches to the district.”
Last week, Dr Charles Olaro, the Director for Curative Services at the Ministry of Health said the government is currently revising several policies aimed at addressing the problem of teenage pregnancies.
Dr Olaro was speaking at a conference in Gulu City convened by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to close its four-year Advancing Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (ANSWER) project last Monday.
The 25 million euro (about Shs98.5 billion) project was implemented in the 14 districts of the West Nile and Acholi Sub-region benefiting both the refugees and refugee-hosting communities.
UNFPA, with funding from the Netherlands government, is implementing the four-year programme (ANSWER), with the aim of achieving universal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) of women, girls, boys, and men including disadvantaged and vulnerable populations in Uganda.
Dr Olaro said approximately 600,000 teenage pregnancy cases are registered across the country annually.
Mr Daniel Alemu, the UNFPA deputy representative in Uganda, said the UN agency will continue supporting SRHR activities to curb teenage pregnancies and control spread of diseases.
