Kabale, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kabale district has registered 2618 cases of teenage pregnancies in the last seven months.
According to statistics from health department of the district, the cases were registered across both private and health facilities between January and July this year from a total of 17309 of pregnancies.
Statistics also indicate that May alone registered 423 and June registered 442, the highest number of teenage pregnancies during the survey. 384 cases were registered in January, 311 cases in February, 369 in March, 319 in April, and 370 cases in July.
Alfred Besigensi, the Kabale district health officer says that however much the survey indicates that 80 percent of the affected teenagers were aged between 18-19 years, they are still unable to sustain themselves since most of them are still at school or depend on their parents. Besigensi says that the increase was escalated by the COVID-19 lockdown where young girls became redundant and became a target for men, general poverty and low uptake of family planning services among the youth.
Besigensi expresses worry of escalated cases saying that it may lead to increased cases of negative maternal implications like death and abortion. He however says that they have started mass sensitization as well as community meetings with parents to guide on how such cases can be handled and also reduced. He also says that they have started sensitizing the public about how it is normal for any female who has reached puberty stage to access family planning services.
Naome Nabowa, the Kabale District Stop Gender Based Champion says that some of the girls end up being impregnated due to harassment by their parents. She says that it is the task of parents to make sure that girls are protected.
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