Nabagereka foundation to focus on teenage pregnancies

Ms Solome Nakaweesi, the CEO Nabagereka Dev’t Foundation, speaks to teenagers on Sunday. Photo by Martins E. Ssekweyama.

What you need to know:

The foundation’s CEO says they will use counselling as one of the means to reduce the pregnancies.

Masaka

The Nabagereka Development Foundation is to focus on counselling youth to reduce teenage pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the Masaka District.

The Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Solome Nakaweesi Kimbugwe, said this on Sunday at Muteesa I Royal University where she met hundreds of teenage girls for a dialogue on reproductive health issues.

She said according to the 2011 Ministry of Health Uganda Demographic Survey, 24 per cent of all female teenagers in Uganda are either pregnant or have given birth which she said is high and unacceptable.

She said teenage pregnancies are linked to dropping out of school, STIs spread, and prostitution which directly complicates the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goal 5 – which is to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health. “To stop this, teenage girls must be empowered with the correct information to make the correct sex decisions,” Ms Nakaweesi said.

She added that Masaka was identified as one of the worst hit by teenage pregnancies and so the foundation was set to conduct several of such dialogues in the region not only with teenagers but also with parents, teachers and other stakeholders.