Adolescents too need contraceptives

By Betty Iyamuremye

As the old adage goes; toads are generally nocturnal and, therefore, when found running during daytime then they must have encountered some encumbrances or provoked into action quite contrary to their normal way of life… Consequently when you run into an adolescent in search of contraceptives, that should not shock any of us, instead, it should indicate this adolescent is in some kind of trouble and, therefore, needs help.

In reference to a story that run in one of the newspapers April 29, 2013, about young girls in dire need of contraceptives should not be treated as a misfortune but very prospective.

About three decades ago, issues of sexual feelings, behaviour and development among adolescents were very mute and apart from designated aunties (and not all) other people were hesitant or not authorised to talk about sexuality. This is entirely because sex was based and often influenced by cultural norms and that is why it took people of high moral integrity to guide bedroom affairs such as virginity, age of consent, and matrimonial proposals and other sexual engagements.

On the contrary, this role has been left to the adolescents to self-discover, to some uncompromising parents and the lager part to the media. In fact recent study indicates in TV broad casting only, two out of three programmes contain sexually related actions. One out of 15 shows included scenes sexual intercourse itself. These shows feature a variety of sexual messages, including characters talking about when they want to have sex and how to use sex to keep a relationship alive. Some researchers believe that adolescents use these messages form all types of media including social networks as a reflection in their own sexual lives.

With this exposure and influence, the young people are on rampage for sex and fashion, which spontaneously has obvious results-early pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other social tragedies like abortions and related deaths. For some reasonable time, teachers were assigned with this duty of sex education and have done a commendable job even with no pay-sometimes. But, like I have already highlighted, the young people are highly advanced in terms of knowledge and its accessibility and with time, they have had to outcompete their teachers due their exposure, rendering such guidance irrelevant and outdated.

Additionally, the young people find it difficult or uncomfortable to discuss some issues like condom use and use of contraceptives with any one, which has posed a problem as they strive to live a full life amidst parallel messages (warnings) of abstaining in a bid to prevent HIV and early pregnancies. Because these messages are not synergised, the messages leave the young people with no options but to sneak into private clinics or consult their peers on how to align their lives responsibly. In the urban centres, the adolescents are privileged to have access to information on sex related issues since it is all smeared everywhere and sometime they can afford to buy things like condoms and contraceptives, if they chose to use them anyway.

For those in villages, fate or destiny is what is left as option as there are fewer preferences and yet the young people are equally exposed to sexual acts and information at tender age and, therefore, without doubt, the girls end up getting pregnant, save for those who chosen to abstain on the basis of fear and religious grounds. Worse still, with the poverty biting, there is definitely no extra money to buy the contraceptives or condoms in villages. For those who can get free access, they have to compete with the older ones for these already limited services which are sometimes unfriendly to them. Let us not wait for toads to saturate the country, we need tame and avail them the necessary support they need.

The writer is Communication and Advocacy Officer,

Uganda Women Parliamentary Caucus