John Blaq to spearhead fight against teenage pregnancy

SEXUAL REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

In just over a year of presence in the music industry, music artiste John Kasadha alias John Blaq has scaled all the heights there is in the entertainment industry.

It is for this reason, perhaps, that it comes as no surprise that he has been listed as one of the major artists to perform at the Alliance Week next week in Bugiri.

 Speaking during a press conference held at the Straight Talk Uganda premises recently he National Programs Coordinator of the Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Alliance, Charles Owekmeno, stated that the Alliance will be hosted in Bugiri as one of their many campaigns to curb teenage pregnancy and child marriages in Uganda.

"This year's Alliance Week celebrations will be held at Bugiri Main Hospital in Bugiri district. We chose John Blaq because he is from the Busoga region, where the Alliance Week is going to happen for the whole week.

He speaks the language and identifies with the problems at hand. We hope to get into a better arrangement with him in the near future, for now, he is just one of the performers. We will use the Alliance Week as a platform to launch our campaign to work with Local Council leaders dubbed ‘Free Zone' to curb teenage pregnancy," Owekmeno stated.

He added that the LC1's will be used as champions in the fight against teenage pregnancies and child marriages.

"This year's theme of the Alliance Week; ‘Bridging the Teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriages Gap' was chosen because according to the latest reports, the current rate of teenage pregnancy has grown from 24% to 25% in Uganda, and is between 30-40% in Eastern Uganda," Owekmeno explained.

He further explained that the Alliance Week aims at bridging the Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Information and Knowledge gap and bringing youth-friendly services to the people of Busoga region. There will be lots of entertainment activities. There will be interschool debates, sports activities, health clinics for blood testing as well as entertainment from musical artists like John Blaq.