Janet condemns family planning for school age girls

Education minister Janet Museveni has strongly condemned the use of family planning methods amongst school going girls emphasizing that contraception is designated for families.

Speaking at the National Youth Convention at Kololo independence ground, Uganda’s first lady said:

“Family planning is for families who want to space their children. Why would any man who sent a child to school support that a child should go for family planning because they shouldn’t get pregnant?”

She added: “So, they may tell you that you won’t get pregnant and if you agree you may not get pregnant but if you catch HIV or any other Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) that’s when you will know that you are taking the wrong line.”  

The minister joins a growing number of government leaders who have rejected a proposal by a health ministry official seeking to roll out use of birth control methods amongst girls aged 15 and above.

Instead, the first lady urged young girls to be patient, content and abstain from sex until marriage.

“In Uganda, why would any man take you to Europe and perhaps give you HIV on the way? I implore you young people to live life in the presence of God. Please choose not to defile your bodies which are the temples of the Holy Spirit,” she highlighted.

He also advised the youths to avoid what she termed “immoral cultures” of the world which entice young people into evil deeds, addictions and temptation normally spread through peer pressure and media channels such as social media, internet and traditional media.

“Dear children always remember the practice of daily communion with God as well as reading God’s words, results into adopting Christ’s mind and this what leads to personal transformation,” she noted on Friday in Kampala.

FYI

The government and United Nation Population Fund estimated that up to 32,000 Ugandan teenagers eloped every month during the Covid-19 pandmic years of 2020 and 2021.