Teenage pregnancies drop in West Nile, Acholi - UN
Ms Gift Malunga, UNFPA country representative and Ambassador Karin Boven of Netherlands at the ANSWER Endline Evaluation Report dissemination meeting on April 5, 2024 at Protea Hotel in Kampala on April 5, 2024. PHOTO/KARIM MUYOBO
What you need to know:
- Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with 75 percent aged below 30 years, and its young population faces challenges such as teenage pregnancy.
The number of teenage pregnancies in West Nile and Acholi sub-regions have considerably reduced in the four years leading up to 2023, according to findings from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) ANSWER program.
The ANSWER report indicates that West Nile and Acholi are below the national teenage pregnancy rate at 14.6 and 15.3 percent respectively as compared to other sub-regions.
"West Nile and Acholi sub-regions were above the national teenage pregnancy rate at 19.1 and 19.3 percent respectively. However, in 2022, it has dropped to 14.6 percent and 15.3 percent, respectively," Ms Gift Malunga, UNFPA country representative, said at the dissemination of the ANSWER Endline Evaluation Report which was funded by the Netherlands government.
She added, "The program has increased the uptake of family planning, noting that 40 percent of sexually active unmarried women aged 15-49 are using modern family planning, and that is where the majority of the young people fall."
In 2021, a UNFPA report on teenage pregnancy indicated that West Nile was among the top six sub-regions that registered the highest numbers of teenage pregnancies, with the most affected districts being Arua (4,705 cases) and Yumbe (3,973 cases).
Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with 75 percent aged below 30 years, and its young population faces challenges such as teenage pregnancy.
"One key finding in the UDHS that clearly underscores our unfinished business reveals that only 4.5 percent of the refugees were using any modern method of family planning," Ms Malunga said.
Other sub-regions
The report indicates that the two sub-regions recorded an increase of 13.4 percent as the number of new users of modern contraceptives and also revealed that Kigezi (12) and Ankole (12) have the lowest teenage pregnancy rates, followed by Kampala (13.6) and Elgon (14.5), as Bukedi and Busoga topped the country with the highest rates of teenage pregnancies with 25.9 percent.
According to the report, Nebbi Hospital reported that 8 out of 13 maternal deaths that occurred in the hospital between July 2020 and June 2021 were due to postpartum hemorrhage and lack of blood for transfusion.
"Through the program, we have also directly contributed to the reduction in the maternal mortality ratio by setting up a blood bank in Nebbi," Ms Malunga said.
The report revealed that government contribution to family planning resources increased from 15 percent to 31 percent between 2016 and 2021, while donor contribution dropped from 82 percent to 60 percent.
At the dissemination of the evaluation report on April 5, Dr Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary in the Health Ministry said the country is still experiencing low values of family planning intake because of the cultural norms associated with it, urging the need to change the distribution method.
"These young girls fear to go to the facility, and also, these young people who are actively driven by hormones do not go to the facility to look for condoms," Dr Atwine said.
She added, "Despite the progress made, the national prevalence of modern contraception use for all women stands at about 30 percent, with only 4.5 percent of married refugee women in the West Nile sub-regions utilizing modern contraception."
Dr Atwine said the teenage pregnancy rates in the two sub-regions where the program was implemented remain lower than the national average, indicating the need for sustained efforts to bring these rates even lower.
According to UNFPA, the ANSWER project reached out to about 1.5 million people in the Acholi and West Nile sub-regions with information on sexual and reproductive health rights by the end of 2022, benefiting some 959,000 people in 210 supported facilities.
Ambassador Karin Boven said the transformational programe worth $27million was supported by the Netherland government with an objective of enhancing access to and utilization of quality SRH services in the West Nile and Acholi sub region.
“A collaborative multi sector approach is pivotal to strengthening results and accelerating gains in social and human capital development,” Amb Boven said.
