We bring you a vignette of happenings and events that are dear to us and core activities that we shall deal with in our organization. We took time to do research on the issues of teenage pregnancies, intimate partner violence, suicides and interventions in Greater Masaka Region. The idea of this short project was to gauge what happens and the readiness of our communities to break certain destructive cycles, to encourage the participation of men, women, boys and girls in health preserving and seeking practices . Read for yourselves:
Women's Day Special: Teenage Mother Expecting Fifth Child at 20 Years
This was a story that caught headlines in Bukomansimbi. At just 20 years, Nabuuma Lamula, a Bukomansimbi teenage mother who started giving birth at 13 years is now expecting her fifth child.
This story combines aspect of intimate partner violence, mobility, survival networks and unplanned pregnancies.
Nabuuma is a resident of Bukomansimbi town council in Bukomansimbi district. She is a primary four dropout. She says she had her first child at 13 years although the baby died two weeks after birth.
Nabuuma however had three more babies later after with Moses Ssenkindu, a resident of Nyendo in Masaka Municipality. Nabuuma and Ssenkindu however broke up in 2012 over domestic violence. She claims that in addition to battering her almost every day, Ssenkindu did not provide basic necessities for their children.
Nabuuma is now married to Julius Kasagga, a resident of Bukomansimbi district and is expecting his first child. She says in all the other pregnancies, she had been depending on traditional birth attendants (TBA). She says TBAs gave her local herbs throughout the pregnancies and they also helped her give birth.
For More: https://ugandaradionetwork.com/story/womens-day-special-teenage-mother-expecting-fifth-child-at-20-years.
Woman Commits Suicide Three Weeks After Seeking Treatment
Suicide is another issue we hope to talk about a lot as part of our message giving during all our outreaches. There are many stories we get of men, women, boys and girls who committed suicide. These two stories are around the subject of community readiness to tackle emerging suicide epidemics, HIV and social stigma.
Pauline Mugaga was found hanging on a tree, three weeks after she sought treatment for mental disorder and was discharged.
Police in Masaka are investigating circumstances under which a 47-year old woman hung herself.
The Kindu village housewife was found hanging on a tree near her house.
Pauline Nakayima Mugaga's husband Charles Mugaga says that she left him in their marital bed at 7:00am. Mugaga says he thought his wife was going to ease herself.
He became concerned when Pauline did not return for a long time or reply to his calls.
On failing to find her, he mobilised neighbours,residents and the village authorities who launched a thorough search for the missing woman.
The Kindu village chairperson Ronald Kizito confirms that Pauline was found hanging on a tree near the couple's house. She was already dead.
Kizito says Pauline's suicide has shocked the village because she was a well loved member of the community who was considered to be a kind woman.
Peter Alikazana, the Kyanamuka Police post in-charge, says suicides are very rare in Kyantale parish where Kindu village is located.
Alikazana says police has programmes to meet with the community and encourage it to consider counselling whenever faced with difficulties.
Mugaga says his wife had received treatment at Masaka regional referral hospital three weeks earlier for mental disorder. He thought she had made a full recovery.
Nakayima’s body has been taken to Masaka referral hospital for postmortem.
This is the second recorded suicide case in under a month in the district.
A Lwengo district native Jane Nakavuma (34) committed suicide at the regional referral hospital where she had come to seek treatment. She hung herself on a tree in the hospital compound after she learned she had tested HIV positive.
Nabagereka Foundation Out to Curb Teenage Pregnancy
Since 2014, there have been efforts to curb teenage pregnancies. We captured this story by the Nabagereka Foundation. Solome Nakaweesi Kimbugwe, the Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer says the campaign comes at a backdrop of an increase in teenage pregnancies across Ugandan communities.
The Nabagereka Development Foundation, a Non-Government Organization founded by the Queen of Buganda, Sylvia Nagginda has initiated a rigorous advocacy campaign against teenage pregnancies in the greater Masaka region.
Salome Nakaweesi Kimbugwe, the Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer says the campaign comes at a backdrop of an increase in teenage pregnancies across Ugandan communities.
The Uganda Demographic Health survey 2011 recorded that about 14 per cent of young women and 16 per cent of young men had their first sexual encounter before the age of 15 while 57 per cent of young women had their first encounter before the age of 18.
According to the Population secretariat, of the 1.2 million pregnancies recorded in Uganda annually, 25 percent are teenage pregnancies. The more than 300,000 teenagers who get pregnant annually also account for the bulk of unwanted pregnancies, which end up in unintended births or abortion.
Based on such alarming figures, Nakaweesi told a dialogue on Sexual and Reproductive Health Education and Rights in Masaka that the figures have stagnated for years despite several interventions to save teenagers from the crisis. She added that Masaka is listed top among the worst hit areas.
Nakaweesi explains that the area has a number of dynamics leading to the persistence of the problem. They include among others, early marriage, early initiation of sex and lack of information among the youth. The Nabagereka foundation will therefore focus its efforts on equipping the youth on how to overcome the challenges driving the problem.
For more: ttps://ugandaradionetwork.com/story/nabagereka-foundation-out-to-curb-teenage-pregnancy.
MOH Launches Campaign to Fight Teenage Pregnancies
In Uganda, 24 percent of maternal deaths in Uganda are a result of teenage pregnancies, which are a threat to national development. Defilement is one of the causes of these pregnancies. Sarah Opendi, the State Minister for Primary Health is convinced that defilement is the major cause of teenage pregnancies. Opendi emphasizes the need for collective efforts from the communities and the police to ensure no defilement case is settled out of court. notes that the primary cause of teenage pregnancy is unprotected sexual intercourse.
The health ministry has launched a campaign dubbed “Let girls be girls” aimed at reducing maternal deaths by 15 percent by July 2015. The Let Girls be Girls campaign shall cost 2.2 billion shillings for a full year. Currently, 24 percent of maternal deaths in Uganda are a result of teenage pregnancies, which are a threat to national development.
Teenage pregnancies implies that the individual is carrying a baby while she is still a baby herself or under 18 and is prone to experiencing many risks that endanger her health and that of her unborn baby. Sarah Opendi, the State Minister for Primary Health notes that the primary cause of teenage pregnancy is unprotected sexual intercourse.
The unwanted and unplanned pregnancies result into complications such as difficult delivery, high blood pressure, fistula and low weight babies amongst other others.
