Parents warned as West Nile teenage pregnancies soar

ZOMBO - Overwhelming teenage pregnancies and child motherhood at Warr Health Centre IV are a grave concern, according to deputy Inspector General of Government Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe.

Twinomugisha during a spot check at Warr Health Centre IV in Zombo district was shocked by the overwhelming number of pregnant teenagers in the antenatal care (ANC) section.

The expectant teenagers alarmed the deputy IGG who condemned and warned the parents of failing at their role and forcibly marrying off their daughters. 

Twinomugisha said failure by parents to send their girls to school in favour of wealth despite Universal Primary Education provided by the Government only creates a bigger problem in the future.

“If you do not take these children to school now, you will create a bigger problem and you create a dependency problem. Some of the girls I spoke to at the health centre said their parents have refused to pay fees for their children and yet they are supposed to compete with other girls in the country. Of course, it requires sacrifices because by marrying them off you do not solve the problem,” Twinomugisha said late last week.

She pledged to support some of the teenage mothers to go back to school after delivery. Twinomugisha, who said she was singlehandedly raised and educated by her mother, assured the pregnant teenage girls that once they are ready to go back to school, they should let her know so that she can support them.

While highlighting the magnitude of the challenge Jessica Anenongo, the in-charge maternity ward at Warr Health Centre IV, said out of the between 80 to 100 mothers delivered at the facility every month, at least 50 per cent are teenage mothers making the rate of caesarean operation high.

“We normally have between 80 to 100 mothers delivered here every month and the teenage mothers attending the ANC here is overwhelming. We have set for them Thursdays to attend to them since they fear attending with older women and on average at least we deliver 50 teenage mothers at the facility and this has created a problem of high caesarian section at the facility,” Anenongo said.

Zombo district education officer  Nicholas Odeba relating the high rate of teenage pregnancies with the school dropout rate said the completion rate at the primary level only stands at 30 per cent.

He, however, said the district has designed strategies to support willing pregnant teenage girls and mothers to continue with education amidst their condition.

“The school completion rate in the district, if computed nicely, is less than 30 per cent and mainly the dropouts occur in the transition class between P3 and 4 and we work through the schools to trace those pregnant learners and make sure they remain in school until they write their exams and go to the classes they want. The district is looking for mechanisms to support the teenage mothers to continue with education at all levels,” Odeba said.

The data obtained from the District Health Information Systems indicated that in the 2023/24 financial year, Zombo registered 3,681 teenage pregnancies between 10-19 years (26.4%) out of a total of 13,961 pregnancies in the district. 

Between January 2024 and October 2024, the district registered 3,195 teenage pregnancies (26.4%) out of the 12,086 pregnancies in the district.