Busoga authorities decry high teenage pregnancies

Leaders in Kamuli and Buyende districts have decried the high number of teenage pregnancies recorded in Busoga Sub-region.

The leaders revealed that between 2019 and 2021, Busoga recorded a total of 135,684 teenage pregnancies. Kamuli District alone registered a total of 4,493 deliveries by teenage mothers between July 2022 and March.

Ms Rose Birungi, the Kamuli Resident District Commissioner (RDC), blamed the issue on absentee parents “who abandon their responsibility of being at the forefront of saving the lives of their children”.

“Let us rediscover our family values, community responsibility and parenting values by reviving the institution of the family unit and playing our roles effectively,” Ms Birungi said during the launch of two projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancies in Kamuli last Wednesday.

Ms Birungi said many of the teenagers prefer to seek assistance from traditional birth attendants and yet they are considered high-risk mothers. There are 128 traditional birth attendants in Kamuli.

Dr Daniel Achoda, the assistant district health officer, attributed the high teenage pregnancies in Buyende, and Busoga as a whole, to a multiplicity of factors, ranging from socio-economic, and limited access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

The projects, which were organised by Plan International Uganda, in partnership with Communication for Development Foundation Uganda, are funded by KOICA and the European Union. They were also launched in Buyende last Thursday and in Luuka District last Friday.

They are aimed at providing quality adolescent-friendly, gender-responsive and inclusive services and will see civil society organisations influence policies and encourage taking bold steps to prevent unintended pregnancies.

“These projects were designed together with adolescents and we believe when young people are involved, they will take a deep-rooted and long-lasting change to strengthen girls’ education movement clubs in schools and improve case reporting and referrals,” the Plan International east and central area programme manager, said last Wednesday.

The projects are in line with KOICA’s development strategy to reduce death or disease burden caused by high-risk pregnancy, and the right to health among others.

They are also in line with Plan International’s 2023-2027 strategic plan to ensure that children, and particularly adolescent girls, equally enjoy SRHR information, education and better protection from early pregnancy and sexual and gender-based violence.

Ms Cissy Kaamu, the technical advisor for health at Plan International Uganda, warned against the dangers and high health risks posed by adolescent and teenage mothers and called for collaboration in making and implementing laws, policies and approaches that help secure deep-rooted and long-lasting changes for adolescents’ SRHR lives.

Ms Birungi hailed Plan International Uganda’s interventions, especially towards the Girl Child, saying they have empowered girls to speak out, recover their spaces, and urged girls to enrol, stay and complete school.