Online abuse is taking a toll on Ugandan women’s health
Online abuse is increasingly affecting women’s mental health, livelihoods and participation in digital spaces, making digital safety an important public health concern. Writes Asiimwe Albert
Asiimwe Albert. (Courtesy)
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OPINION
By Asiimwe Albert
A university lecturer opens her phone and discovers that intimate photographs she once shared privately with a partner have been posted in a WhatsApp group, together with her phone number. Within hours, messages from strangers begin arriving. She stops answering calls and withdraws from colleagues. Soon, she no longer feels safe at work or online. This scenario reflects forms of online abuse increasingly documented among women in Uganda, including harassment, repeated online stalking, threats, blackmail using intimate images, publishing someone’s private information without consent, and sharing intimate images without permission. Beyond violating privacy and safety, such abuse can harm women’s mental health, livelihoods and participation in digital spaces, making it an important public health concern.
This abuse has a name: technology-facilitated gender-based violence. The United Nations Population Fund defines it as gender-based violence that is committed, assisted, aggravated or amplified through technologies such as mobile phones, social media and other digital platforms. It includes online harassment, repeated online stalking, blackmail using intimate images, threats, and publication of someone’s private information without consent and the sharing of intimate images without permission.
While such abuse takes place through technology, its consequences do not remain online. It can affect mental health, relationships, livelihoods, education and participation in public life. Survivors may experience fear, anxiety, depression, social isolation and loss of economic or educational opportunities. The scale of the problem is concerning. A 2021 study by the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) and Makerere University found that 88% of respondents had experienced or witnessed online gender-based violence. Globally, UN Women reports that estimates of technology-facilitated violence against women and girls range from 16% to 58%, depending on the population and type of violence studied.
For some women, the response is to withdraw from digital spaces altogether.
Leaving the internet, however, carries its own costs. Education, employment opportunities, businesses, financial services, health information and civic engagement are increasingly accessed online. When abuse forces women to reduce their digital participation, they may lose access to opportunities that technology is supposed to provide.
Women who are highly visible online, including politicians, journalists, activists and other women in public life, may face risks. A coordinated smear campaign, threat or release of private images can damage a person's reputation and livelihood within hours.
Uganda is also grappling with how its laws should respond to rapidly evolving forms of digital abuse. On 12 March 2026, Parliament withdrew the Sexual Offences Bill, 2024, which would, among other provisions, have expressly addressed the non-consensual sharing of sexual images. Five days later, the Constitutional Court nullified the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act, 2022 after finding that Parliament had passed it without complying with quorum requirements.
These developments do not mean that all legal protections against online abuse have disappeared. They do, however, highlight continuing questions about whether Uganda's legal and enforcement systems are keeping pace with emerging forms of technology-facilitated violence.
Law alone is also not enough.
This is where the public-health system also has a role.
Uganda already recognises gender-based violence as a problem requiring prevention, reporting, survivor support and referral. Technology-facilitated violence should be approached in the same way. Frontline health workers and counsellors need to recognise its psychological and social effects and know where to refer survivors for appropriate mental health, legal and psychosocial support.
Better information is also needed. Questions about technology-facilitated violence could be incorporated into appropriate gender-based violence surveillance and research so that Uganda can understand who is affected, the forms of abuse they experience and the consequences for their health and wellbeing.
Schools, universities and workplaces do not need to wait for new legislation. They can adopt policies that explicitly address cyberbullying, online harassment, doxing, threats and non-consensual sharing of intimate images, while establishing safe channels through which survivors can report abuse. Technology companies also have a responsibility to provide effective reporting systems, remove abusive material promptly and act against accounts repeatedly used to harass or threaten others.
Individuals can improve their digital safety through measures such as strong passwords, two-factor authentication and careful management of privacy settings. But responsibility for preventing abuse cannot be placed on women and girls themselves. Safer digital spaces require functioning laws, informed law enforcement, responsive technology platforms and accessible survivor support.
The internet has become part of everyday life. Women should not have to choose between participating in it and protecting their health, dignity and safety. If online spaces remain unsafe, Uganda risks losing more than women's presence on social media. It risks limiting their access to education, economic opportunities, public debate and leadership. Making digital spaces safer for women is therefore not only a technology or criminal justice issue. It is a public health issue, and it deserves to be treated as one.
The writer is a Health Informatics Fellow with the Uganda Public Health Fellowship Programme, hosted at the Division of Health Information Systems, Ministry of Health