Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights-SRHR experts and other concerned stakeholders want the government and partners to increase sensitization campaigns and other sustainable interventions address SRHR gaps and prevent teenage pregnancies in Bushenyi district western Uganda, and other hotspots across the country.
This follows shocking statistics from district records indicating that Bushenyi district alone registered 330 cases of teenage pregnancy in a period of three months in January, February and March 2023, indicating a slight increase compared to 319 registered in the last quarter of 2022 in months of October, November and December 2022.
Speaking to RISE NEWS UGANDA, Dr. Edward Mwesigye who is the Bushenyi District Health Officer-DHO attributed this increase to failure by parents/guardians to provide their children’s basic needs, forcing young girls to run with men who lure them with money and other promises. Most of the victims come from families that are unable to keep them in school or provide basic needs.
However, Aggrey Kakembo Ssekandi – the Bushenyi district probation officer says the efforts to end teenage pregnancies are frustrated by parents/guardians who would rather collect money from the perpetrators and keep quiet or accept the boys’ parents take responsibility than opting for court process that will take years before victims getting justice. This has frustrated efforts to have many perpetrators apprehended and brought to book.
Activists have also attributed the high cases to poverty in homes, school dropout, lack sexuality education, and other challenges.
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