Experts call for male involvement in promoting sexual, reproductive health 

Male involvement is key in addressing the deeply entrenched social norms, beliefs and behaviour that infringe on sexual and reproductive health and rights for young women and girls, experts have said.  
According to the Country Director of Oxfam Uganda, Mr Francis Shanty Odokorach, if men and boys are involved in addressing vices, including early marriages, female genital mutilation and sexual abuse, and improving access to sexual and reproductive health information and services, it would  greatly reduce the vulnerability of young women and girls to unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions,  maternal deaths, school dropout, disabilities related to sexual abuse  and infections including HIV/AIDs, among others. 

"For sustainable development and positive change to happen, we must work together to tackle the underlying dynamics of inequalities that disadvantage the other gender," he said while  briefing some of the  stakeholders in the fields of health and human rights on Oxfam's "Stand Up" project whose aim is to address gender inequalities and human rights issues ,particularly harmful social norms, traditional practices and taboos regarding gender and sexuality, lack of adequate information and access to comprehensive services and, meaningful decision making power by women and girls regarding their health and sexuality. 
The six year-project funded by Global Affairs Canada will be implemented in the rural districts of Mayuge and Namayingo in eastern Uganda and refugee host districts of Terego, Nebbi and Arua in West Nile.

The project will focus on community sensitisation and awareness creation by Oxfam in partnership with Centre for Human Rights and Development and Femme Forte, sexual and reproductive health service delivery by Reproductive Health Uganda while research that will inform decision making will be undertaken by Makerere University School of Public Health.
The family planning Programme Specialist at UNFPA, Dr Moses Walakira said that since it takes two people for someone to get pregnant, it is important to focus on both parties to address challenges like unwanted pregnancies.

"The concern is that we are focusing on one party and leaving out the other. Involving men is beyond encouraging them to use condoms and going for vasectomy, a permanent family planning method for men. We need to appreciate and reach out to them and work together in addressing sexual and reproductive health challenges to ensure a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every child is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled," Dr Walakira said.

Currently, 62.5 percent of pregnancies among adolescents in urban areas are unwanted, while 63.4 percent of pregnancies among adolescents in rural areas are unwanted, according to Dr Walakira.
The Ministry of Health records indicate that about 25 percent of Ugandan teenage girls become pregnant by the age of 19 and close to half are married off before their 18th birthday and they continue having children in their mid-40s.

The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) estimates that about 700,000 teenage girls in Uganda got pregnant between 2020 and 2021 especially during the Covid-induced lockdown.
  Prior to the pandemic, about 216,000 births that were conducted annually were of teenage mothers and of these, 46 percent were unwanted pregnancies according to UNFPA.
The programme officer, gender and reproductive health at Church of Uganda Provincial Secretariat, Mr Stephen Ochieng said, "Many projects come but they forget about the boys and men yet these are the trouble causers. If this continues, we shall continue experiencing what is happening now in the next 10 years."

Assistant Commissioner, Primary Education in the Ministry of Education and Sports, Mr.Robert Ikwarp said Oxfam's project is timely because Uganda is struggling to tackle sexual and reproductive health issues especially among learners who got pregnant during the lockdown brought about by the Covid-19.