By Annah Nafula
Center for Health, Human Rights for Development has echoed the need to have contraceptives given to adolescents especially those in rural areas in order to curb the worrying rate of teenage pregnancies.
According to Program Associate CEHURD,Annah Kukundakwe, the need to have contraceptives has nothing to do with the standing moral standards of society but it should be looked at as an alternative for adolescents who conceive without choice.
“During our outreaches in Bwaise, I saw many teenage mothers, many of whom had had forced sex and had either failed to abort, had no knowledge of safe abortion later on contraceptives.” Said Kukundakwe.
CEHURD director of programs Nakibuuka Noor also says that the idea that sex education has been taken out of context has been a major challenge with many parents being afraid to have these conversations with their children. Nakibuuka argues that in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies that are usually as a result of rape and incest, adolescents should be put on contraceptives to avoid unnecessary deaths due to unsafe abortions.