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Bukedi has emerged as the region with the highest number of teenage mothers in Uganda.

According to the Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS), teenage pregnancies in Bukedi (which includes districts: Pallisa, Kibuku, Budaka, Butaleja, Tororo, and Busia) currently stand at 25.9 percent.

This is followed in second place by Busoga, at 22.6 percent, and Lango, at 22 percent in third place.

The findings were released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) on March 7, 2024. 

They indicate that Toro, at 21.3 percent, and Karamoja at 20.2 percent, in fourth and fifth place respectively, are the other regions with high teenage pregnancy cases. 

On the other hand, Kigezi and Ankole, which tie at 12 percent, and Kampala, at 13.6 percent have the lowest cases.

The statistics are of the percentage of women sampled between the ages of 15-19 years who have had a live birth according to the report.

Teenage pregnancies are associated with several problems, including increased maternal mortality in a country. 

In Uganda, 12% of the audited maternal deaths occur among teenagers, according to a June 2022 article that appeared in the journal of the National Library of Medicine titled Prevalence and factors associated with teenage pregnancy among parturients in Mbale Regional Referral Hospital: A cross-sectional study.

It said teenage mothers are more likely to suffer adverse pregnancy outcomes, including death because they are not biologically and psychologically ready for childbirth and they have limited or no access to quality maternity care because of social and economic disadvantages.

These complications include obstructed labour and its sequelae (a condition which is the consequence of a previous disease or injury), pregnancy-related hypertension, anemia, low birth weight, fetal growth retardation, and psychological trauma all leading to high infant and maternal morbidity and mortality rate, the article adds.

Uganda has one of the highest adolescent pregnancies in the sub-Saharan region according to the United Nations Development Program.

Standing at 105.7 births per 1,000 women aged between 15-19 years, it is higher than Kenya (62.6), Rwanda (32.2), and South Sudan (97).