It's preferable to have one child, says Rose Nyekuch 28 during a family planning section at the Pagirinya Health Centre III.

Nyekuch passes on the advice to both men and women despite the fact that she has had a totally different experience.

Nyekuch married at the age of 14 and gave birth to her first child a year later, before the war in Sudan that forced her to Uganda as a refugee.

Before then, she was not required, like many other child brides, to seek an education, thus never attended any formal education.

She now has five children, all of whom she wishes to have a totally different destiny from hers.

"I hope that when my daughter is at least 22 years old, she will make the correct decisions before becoming a mother, though by then she'll have completed her university education," Nyekuch remarked.

RHU peer educator gives guidelines for family planning clients through available options to adopt. 

Nyekuch stated that most of the women she encounters these days at least take a family planning injection, use implants, or tablets, to have planned for babies, and only a handful couples employ alternative ways.

Nkonanyi, 25 a mother of two also married at only 13 and received her first baby the following year.

 Nkonanyi revealed that the family relies on her husband's salary who works as a community laborer to make ends meet.

"If I send my son to school, we will want more funds for his school uniform, books, notebooks, and other necessities which we can't afford."

She wants both of her children to expect more from life, for instance, hopes her daughter will not get married until she is 20.

Nkonanyi herself wants to wait before having more children.

"I'd like to wait at least three years before having another child," she said.

Contraceptives reduce the risk of maternal injury and death by lowering the number of unplanned pregnancies, which account for 43% of all pregnancies in Uganda.

According to the 2020 State of World Population report, the country's fertility rate is five (4.6) children per woman, and roughly a tenth of women give birth while still teens.

According to a recent joint United Nations study, over 368 women die during birth for every 100,000 owing to pregnancy-related causes.

According to a government survey, barely 30% of married Ugandan women employed contemporary techniques of family planning in 2016. Contraception is steadily gaining traction in traditionally conservative society. As per Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) reports, 40% of married women utiliSed contraception by 2020.

 However, Rhoda Namukwana, a midwife at Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) said there is still considerable skepticism. Contraceptive such as implants are feared by many people, despite the fact that they are safe and provide long-term protection against unintended pregnancies.

Namukwaya said people are reluctant to use them, and husbands won't let them because they're worried their wives won't be able to have children again

According to Peter Ibembe, Reproductive Health Uganda Director of Programs, couples can determine the appropriate family size for their situation by using family planning. Despite this, many people are wary of using family planning.

"This is due to a lack of comprehensive information, inadequate counselling skills among health service providers, limited access to contraception, users' fear of side effects, and misinterpretation of religious doctrine regarding family planning," said Ibembe,

He added that some cultural influences, such as the inclination and desire to have a big family, by some couples also play a key role."

RHU, in partnership with AFP is also increasing the family planning choices available to women, but also executing out advocacy activities among policy makers, media and the community.

At the centre in Uganda’s vulnerable communities, women are able to select from a variety of safe, reliable contraceptive methods, including condoms, pills, injections, implants and bi-tubal litigation or vasectomy.