The covid-19 pandemic exacerbated Uganda’s already-existing problem of teen pregnancy. The pandemic caused disruptions in access to health and social services, resulted in over 32,000 teenage pregnancies reported on average per month, according to the UN Population Fund research.
Districts in the West Nile region are still dealing with the consequences of an increased number of girls becoming pregnant during the lockdown, particularly in refugee settlements, which has resulted in numerous school dropouts.
Rose (not her real name), shares her story:
“I was in primary five at Boroli Primary School but had to stay at home for 2 years to care for my siblings when schools were closed. During that time, I was sexually assaulted by a boy I considered a friend. Because I was under aged, my family reported the incident to the police, but the boy fled back to South Sudan to avoid arrest.
When my grandmother noticed a change in my body, she took me to the health center for a medical check-up and little did I know I was pregnant not until the medical examination confirmed it. I then decided to stay at home and take care of my child, with no hope to return to school.”
Rose’s story represents one of the many challenges that young girls in the refugee settlements face in West Nile.
Because every child deserves an education, AFOD with funding from ViiV Health Care have been following up SGBV, teenage pregnancy and forced early marriage cases to offer psycho-social support to the girls and hold dialogues with parents to sensitize on the importance of Girl child education.
AFOD advocacy approach has yielded positive efforts, many teenage mothers are now back in school studying alongside other students,” says Male, AFOD reproductive health assistant in Adjumani.
According to Ms. Julia Clement, a senior woman teacher at Boroli Primary School, the intervention by AFOD has provided the much-needed support because as a school, they have not been able to convince the parents to return girls to school on their own after safe delivery but AFOD’s efforts have played a great role in changing attitudes of parents and adolescent girls on issues of safe re-entry to school. Ms. Julia confessed,
“I was hurt when my girls became pregnant and dropped out of school, but with the help of AFOD, we have been able to follow them up and re-enroll eight young mothers back to school.”
Mercy, one of the teenage mothers testified,
“Despite the challenges of being a young mother and student, including trekking long distances to and from school to breastfeed my child, I am glad I am back in school with my friends, apart from the senior woman teacher, no one else knows I have a child, I don’t get bullied like I thought I would and now I get to study alongside my friends to pursue my dream of becoming a medical doctor.”
There is an urgent need to educate and remind adolescents and teenagers about their sexuality, as well as provide accurate sexual and reproductive health information. AFOD and its partners are continuously training teachers and health workers on how to provide sex education to young people both in and out of school.
