Experts speak out on teenage pregnancies
Teen mothers attend to their children at Pader Girls’ Academy, Pader District, in 2018. Medical professionals say the biggest driver of teenage pregnancies is cultural norms, where the transition from childhood to adulthood includes marriage and giving birth. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- The judge added: "Accordingly, the ministry is directed to develop a comprehensive sexuality education policy. In so doing, it must identify and work with the breadth of relevant stakeholders and address all issues competently.”
The news of a 16-year-old girl who gave birth to quadruplets, at a rural hospital in the eastern district of Butaleja, has sparked fresh debate on the need to have comprehensive sexuality education in a bid to end teenage pregnancy.
In 2021, High Court Judge Lydia Mugambe in her ruling, directed the Education ministry to develop a comprehensive sexuality education policy.
In her decision, the judge held that Uganda is a party to international conventions that unequivocally require the government to enact a policy that comprehensively provides for sexuality education.
“The inordinate delay or omission of over 10 years to develop a comprehensive sexuality education policy in Uganda is a violation of Uganda’s obligations under international law and the Constitution,” she ruled.
The judge added: "Accordingly, the ministry is directed to develop a comprehensive sexuality education policy. In so doing, it must identify and work with the breadth of relevant stakeholders and address all issues competently.”
But despite the directive, two years on, there is no policy on comprehensive sexuality education.
Dr Dennis Mugimba, the spokesperson of the Education Ministry, earlier this week, said the Sexuality Education Framework was launched in 2018, but the implementation was delayed due to opposition from religious foundation bodies on certain phrases and terms used in the policy.
“It is not that sexuality education was abolished, it is only that faith-based organisations didn't concur with what we had come up with,” he said.
Dr Mugimba, however, acknowledged that teenage pregnancy and early marriage were greatly contributing to school dropout and must be prevented.
Dr Munir Safieldin, the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef)'s country representative, said: “The Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) reports that 24 percent of girls aged 15 to 19 have experienced pregnancy. Alarmingly, a growing number of pregnancies are occurring among girls under 15 years, with cases reported in girls as young as 10.”
He said Unicef had invested more than $4 million in the national campaign to curb teenage pregnancies.
Ms Sunshine Fionah, a lawyer and feminist, said:“We cannot ignore that children are curious about sex and their bodies regardless of whether they have access to the information they need to make informed decisions or not. That’s the first frontier of protection and intervention. Girls are not drinking these pregnancies in the porridge at school, they are being abused.”
Dr Richard Mugahi, the assistant commissioner in charge of reproductive and infant health at the Health Ministry, urged stakeholders to engage and end teenage pregnancies.
He revealed that at Jinja Referral Hospital alone, more than 40 percent of mothers who give birth through caesarean section are teenagers.
