Speaking at the launch of the National Campaign against Teenage pregnancies in Jinja, First Lady and Minister of Education, Janet Museveni said, ‘’we are going to invest in new infrastructure for Wanyange Girls.
’’She mentioned that the Ministry of Education and Sports has plans to beautify and rehabilitate the used to be big historical schools across the country and that the Ministry will be announcing the details soon.
The purpose of this national campaign organized in conjunction with UNICEF Uganda and UNFPA Uganda is to mobilize the country to address: Defilement, child marriages,teenage pregnancies and to promote positive parenting.
1,052 pregnancies recorded daily in Uganda therefore the specific objectives of the campaign are to undertake a structured social dialogue with key stakeholders to create awareness about defilement,child marriage, teenage pregnancy and positive parenting and agree on sustainable solutions.
Additionally, it is meant to direct the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and all Local Governments (LGs) to take the necessary action to address defilement, child marriage, teenage pregnancy and promote positive parenting in line with the law according to Hon. Janet Museveni.
According to the Uganda Police Annual Crime Report (2020), there were 13,613 defilement cases reported in 2019 and 14,134 defilement cases in 2020, indicating an increase of 3.8 per cent over thetwo-year period.
The most affected gender and age group were adolescents between 15 and 17 years (9,954) followed by younger adolescents between 9 and 14 years (2,986). Of those adolescents defiled during this period, 301 were defiled by persons living with HIV/AIDS, while 120 adolescents were defiled by a parent.
