A special coverage on 16 Days Activism Against Gender Based Violence by DaParrot Publication will kick off tomorrow.
The coverage will run between November 25, the International day for the Elimination of violence against Women and on December 10, the Human Rights Day.
GBV 16 Days Campaign is an international campaign to challenge violence against women.
The campaign aims at raising awareness of the negative impact that violence and abuse have on women and children and rid society of abuse permanently.
During these Days, DaParrot will run a special project dubbed “Her Story” under theme: “Unleashing the Untold stories of Slum and Rural Teenage Mother’s”
In Her Story project, DaParrot will be telling stories of teenage mothers, highlighting teenage pregnancy as a form of violence against women.
“Teenage pregnancy is among the deadliest forms of violence against women to be particular young girls, it has cost many their dreams, and as well killed others,” Yassin Sokuton the CEO of DaParrot Online Media said
Teenage pregnancies has remained among the top problems that have denied a good number of young women to succeed in their dreams and as well crippling Inclusive development.
Records from Naguru Teenage Information and Health Centre (NTIHC) Kiswa facility indicates that during the FY 2021/2022, of the 642 girls aged 10-24 years that had a pregnancy test, 37% (239) turned out positive of which 98 were aged 12-19 years.
Data further shows that 38% (92) of the positive cases were in-school girls indicating an increase of 119% from the previous FY 2020/2021. 64% of the pregnancies recorded at the Centre were indicated to be unplanned.
As of 2021, the country recorded 31,565 pregnancies every month which translates into1,052 pregnancies are recorded daily, according to the District Health Information System-2 (DHIS 2).
The increasing rate of teenage pregnancy is compounded by other SRHR indicators where Uganda is scoring poorly as indicated by the Uganda Demographic.
Health Survey (UDHS, 2016), high maternal mortality with 28% of maternal deaths occurring among young women (15- 24 years), early sexual debut (16.9 years for females; 18.5 years for males aged 25-49); the high unmet need for family planning at
30% among adolescents, gender-based violence; child marriage (34% by 18
years).
The Her Story Project is being implemented by DaParrot in partnership with other development partners including; Naguru Health Teenage Information Center (NHTIC), Touch the Slum, Youth Coalition for SDGs, YoMarketStore, Line Stepper (U) Ltd, and Overseas Workers Voice Uganda (OWVU).
Esther Makula the Communication Officer of NHTIC said that the campaign is timely and in line with their objectives.
“Teenage girls are the most affected with this violence, we are happy to partner with DaParrot to highlight this violence,” she said
Laban Joshua Musinguzi the president of the Youth Coalition for SDGs said that the campaign is in line with their SDGs since it’s aimed at highlighting the teenage pregnancy as a form of violence that is affecting young women.
