Mutungo up in arms over rising teenage pregnancies, Anti-GBV campaigns
Teenage pregnancies, pick-pocketers, physical beatings by spouses, emotional and economic trauma, were yesterday listed as the major challenges faced by women and girls in Mutungo Parish, Nakawa Division in Kampala.
During the community stakeholders’ engagement dubbed making communities safer for everyone by a youth organisation, Touch the slum charity foundation in partnership with Plan International held at Mutungo trading centre on November 26, over 100 residents asked authorities to curb the increasing teenage pregnancies which is forcing girls out of schools.
“We have challenges where some children are HIV+ yet they are in intimate relationships with our daughters, as parents we feel embarrassed and not happy at all on such incidents which risk the lives of our girls,” Paul Sekweyama, a resident of Mutungo said.
Maria Namubiru another resident said, “The high rate of teenage pregnancies in our area is alarming, you find many young girls are pregnant. We are wondering how the future of these young mothers will be.”
The residents appealed to the government, to ensure that the issue of raising teenage pregnancies is solved.
Records from Naguru Teenage Information and Health Centre, a pioneer adolescent health program in Uganda providing Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health indicate that there were 31,565 teenage pregnancies recorded in 2021. This translated into 1,052 pregnancies daily.
They also called upon the area police to ensure that it maximises security and save the vulnerable women from the increasing pick-pocketers who grab their items.
The engagement is part of the broad activities being held by different partners in commemoration of this year’s 16 days activism against gender-based violence which is being held under the theme: Unite to end violence against women and girls.
Ronald Eligu, the executive director of Touch the slum charity foundation said the village-to-village campaigns are aimed at creating safer communities for women and girls who are facing all forms of violence.
“We are engaging all the stakeholders including police, local leaders, cultural leaders, parents and the young people themselves and we want to reason with these people together on how we can create safer communities for everyone especially women and girls,” he said.
He added, “We have partnered Plan International to ensure that we visit different slums including this in Mutungo where we are, we shall go to Kamwokya, in Kibuye and other areas.”
Uganda has joined the rest of the world to commemorate the 16 days of activism which is running between November 25 and December 10.
During it launch on November 25, Gender and Culture Minister Ms Peace Mutuzo implored stakeholders to ensure that they discuss and find lasting solutions to major challenges like teenage pregnancies, rape, defilement, economic and emotional violence being faced by women and girls.
