'Uganda girls, young women in gold mining areas battle against STDs'

Four out of 10 (40 percent) adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) working in artisanal and small–scale mining (ASM) sector in Uganda reported having suffered a sexually transmitted disease, a new study has revealed.

The study conducted by Women Rise Project discovered that the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among adolescent girls and young women shot as high as 51% in some areas.

Sexually transmitted disease is an infection acquired through sexual contact, and it is caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites.  The four curable ones include: syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and trichomonas. The other four viral infections are hepatitis B, herpes simplex virus (HSV), HIV and human papillomavirus (HPV).

The study was conducted in Eastern Uganda in Busia and Namayingo districts, and central region in Kassanda and Mubende districts.

The Women Rise project study also discovered that about two out of ten (22 percent) of the adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), and almost three (28 percent) among those who had ever had sex, engaged with more than one sexual partner in the past one year.

Adolescent girls and young women continue to engage in risky sexual behaviours to get opportunities to work or in exchange for money or gold core.  

Notably, alcohol and substance use by AGYW was nineteen percent (19 %) much higher in central Uganda at thirteen percent.  

The findings were unveiled during the dissemination of the results for the Women Rise Project Titled “Economic and Health Impact and the Resilience of Last Mile Populations in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Ghana and Uganda during and after Covid-19” at Kabira Country Club in Kampala on Thursday (March 13, 2024).

Prof Betty Kwagala, the principal investigator of the Women Rise Project addressing participants. (Credit: Agnes Kyotalengerire)

The project was a collaboration between Makerere University, Macmaster University Canada, Northern Empowerment Agency-Ghana, University of Ghana and the Department of Youth & Children Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development.

It aimed at contributing to the economic and health well-being of adolescents in the Artisanal & small-scale mining (ASM) sector. 

The Project Investigators include: Associate Prof Betty Kwagala, Lydia Kapiriri, Stephen Wandera, Fred Ngabirano, Miriam Mutabazi, Deborah Mensah and Lydia Osei.
The artisanal and small-scale mining sector in Uganda employs 40,000 women.

A significant number of these include adolescent girls and young women aged between 10 to 24.

Driven by poverty and social challenges, adolescent and young women in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector not only work but involuntarily or voluntarily engage in activities that compromise their health.  

The principal investigator, associate Prof. Betty Kwagala from the Department of Population Studies at Makerere University said the main drivers of the sexual and reproductive health status had to do with incomes.

Prof. Kwagala said although awareness raising is key if somebody does not have a source of income, the effort is futile.

The principal College of Business and Management Sciences at Makerere University Prof. Edward Bbaale said research project is multi-institutional; disciplinary and touches on very important aspects that impact young people.

Prof Bbaale urged the investigators not to undertake research without government because this research comes in to speak to policies. “If work in isolation, then we leave out the pertinent issues that government wants addressed through evidence-based research,” he said.

The senior lecturer in the Department of Population Studies at Makerere University, Dr. Stephen Ojiambo Wandera, called for policies and guidelines to ensure adolescent girls and young women are protected from sexual exploitation.