429 teen mothers who conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Acholi and West Nile sub-regions have resumed their studies under the Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ANSWER) programme. 

The ANSWER programme is implemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the 15 districts of the Acholi and West Nile sub-regions. 

These mothers got pregnant between 2020 and 2021, at the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic that forced the closure of schools in a bid to stop its spread in the country, forcing many to drop out of school. 

The revelation was made in Gulu City during a close-out meeting for the ANSWER program in the sub-regions, funded by the Netherlands.

Stakeholders attending Sexual Reproductive Health meeting organised for Acholi and West Nile sub regions. (Photo by Johnisani Ocakacon)

Christine Kajungu, the UNFPA program specialist on reproductive health, said in the last two years, the program has been able to work with the local community and schools to ensure that young mothers return to school. 

“We worked very tirelessly with education stakeholders and local leaders to see that this number of teen mothers go back to school for studies because we have realised that these girls conceived in the last two years during the lockdown of COVID-19 and today, we celebrate their achievement that they have gone back to school and are studying,” Kajungu said. 

She added that UNFPA has initiated activity around menstrual health management to ensure that there is no absenteeism in school by providing sanitary pads and changing rooms for girls among others. 

“We oriented teachers and increased information among young people. We work in 500 schools and specifically, we work with the Ministry of Education to develop ICT material and sexual reproductive health materials for adolescents the Ministry will make sure that these materials are rolled out across the country as a contribution of the ANSWER program to the nation,” she noted. 

Kajungu added that the education and gender ministries are going to transcribe the ICT materials into braille so that young adolescents with visual impairment too can be able to access the information on sexual reproductive health. 

“We also worked with the cultural leaders to see that the voices of the young adolescents are heard to make informed choices in their society as well and this has been our core value in this program,” Kajungu noted. 

Similarly, Daniel Alemu, the deputy UNFPA representative, said this is a four-year program that looks at enhancing the sexual reproductive health rights among young adolescents and to deliberate the demographic and health survey in the two sub-regions. 

“The ANSWER program is designed to address key issues of sexual reproductive health and gender-based violence in the community so that the society we live in is a better one. In the last two years, we have seen some changes and today, we celebrate this achievement together,” he said. 

Alemu added that the program is to accelerate social transformation when it comes to community health with more focus on women, girls, People With Disabilities (PWDs) and refugees providing them better health that they deserve in the community. 

Dr Charles Olaro, the director of curative health services in the Ministry of Health, said amidst the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has been able to achieve a reduction in the maternal death ratio according to the demographic health research released recently moving from 336 to 186, something he called a great achievement. 

“As a ministry, we are formalising policies on sexual reproductive health and adolescent policy guidance, quality improvement framework, patients and maternal charter that have been integrated into the third National Health Policy. All have been developed in with the Adolescent School Health Policy not to leave anybody behind, with support from UNFPA,” he said. 

Olaro said a lot still needs to be done to ensure that the data system enables the ministry to capture beyond-time data for immediate action and so far, some health facilities have received computers to move toward digitisation.

Stakeholders attending Sexual Reproductive Health meeting organised for Acholi and West Nile sub regions. (Photo by Johnisani Ocakacon)

Tomson Obong, the Lamwo Chief Administrative Officer, said the government and her development partners aim at contributing towards zero maternal death, zero gender-based violence and unwanted pregnancies in the community. 

“Today, we are very happy to see 959,000 beneficiaries with due services and 210 supported facilities and on behalf of the leadership of district local government both in Acholi and West Nile,” he said. 

Genevieve Bamwidhukire, the national director of Special Olympics Uganda, said considering disabilities in sexual reproductive health is very important and the challenge is that some of the persons with disabilities in their community have been left out from accessing the services.  

Paska Alobo, a resident of Tee-Yaa Village, Kot-Omor sub-county, Agago District, said girls are exposed to bad cinema and indecent dressing which put their lives into early pregnancies and in the end, ruin their future. 

“Men have resorted to drinking alcohol, leaving women to cater for everything in the house and come back when they are fully drunk and end up not knowing what happened at the end of the day,” she said. 

Dorah Beatrice Ajok, a senior four student of Lwani Memorial College in Amuru District said there are still so many girls who gave birth but they are still at home. 

“Government needs to support teen mothers so that they are able to find what to do for life in the future after finishing their education,” she said.