Teen mothers want inclusion in govt’s wealth creation schemes
An official from Kasese District speaks to a teenage mother in Mukunyu Sub- County in September 2019. Majority of the young mothers say they are struggling to survive because the men are not in position to take care of them. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- The young mothers say they are not listed among the categories to benefit from the government programmes.
Teenage mothers have decried marginalisation when it comes to different groups benefiting from government wealth creation programmes.
Speaking during a media engagement in line with the celebrations to mark the National Women’s week in Kampala last week, Ms Tahiri Kikome, one of the teenage mothers, said since they give birth before 18 years, they find it had to get a category where they belong because government wealth creation programmes focus on specific groups of people.
“Since we are not yet in the youth or women category, we are marginalised because all government programmes do not cater for young mothers yet we are also citizens and have responsibilities,” she said.
Ms Kikome added that even in their communities, people do not want to associate with them, thinking they are spoilt yet they can be good examples to children who are still in school.
“We think we can advise children who are still in school to protect themselves from being misled by men and boys,” she said.
Ms Kikome also revealed that the majority of the young mothers are struggling to survive because the men are not in position to take care of them.
“These young mothers struggle to get a meal for themselves and the babies because the fathers abandoned their duties and this has forced some of them to become sex workers,” she said.
Ms Sarah Jesca Agwang, the director of programmes at Uganda Women’s Network (UWONET), appealed to the government to support the teenage mothers.
“As much as the government wants these girls to go back to school, some fail to enroll because of certain issues,” she said.
Justification
She added that all young mothers do not have basic needs, the reason they should be involved in such programmes to enhance their income status.
Ms Christine Manda, the female councilor and council speaker for Pakwach District, said due to the increasing number of young mothers, the government should consider providing more support to them in terms of health services.
“We have realised that since these children get pregnant at a young age, they find it hard to attend the required antenatal visits because of the long distance to access medication at health centre IIIs and fear to be discriminated against,” she said.
Ms Manda added that in Pakwach, they engaged authorities who have started providing antenatal services at health centre IIs to ease access for teenage mothers.
However, the commissioner for gender and women affairs at the Gender ministry, Ms Angella Nakafeero, said all children below 18 years are supposed to be in school, a reason why young mothers are not given special consideration in government programmes.
“The Ministry of Education and Sports opened up for teenage mothers to enroll again for studies after giving birth and if they are not there, it’s a very big mistake because it’s abnormal to be mothers at that age,” she said.
Background
According to UNFPA 2021 Fact Sheet, 290,219 teenage pregnancies were recorded from January to September 2021 in Uganda, translating to about 32,000 monthly.
About two in 10 women who were attending first antenatal care were teenagers in 2020.
