300000 girls in Uganda getting pregnant before they are 19

By Guest Writer Naigaga Phiona Fortunate

Why are so many teenagers and young adults still opting for unsafe sex? Why, when there are sex education classes in most schools and constant public health campaigns, are some people having sex without using contraception or only using a form that protects against pregnancy and not STIs?

According to the Uganda Demographic Health survey 2011, 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.

More than 300000 girls in Uganda getting pregnant before they are 19, and many opting for abortion.

Early marriage, early initiation of sex and lack of information, are said to be the leading drivers of adolescent pregnancy. According to Dr Wilfred Ochan, the Assistant Country Representative United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), lack of access to reproductive health information supported with services, has led teenagers into early sex while poverty and cultural practices continue to force girls into early marriages.

Communications Officer of Isis-WICCE Balikudembe Kireju said that the increased poverty levels due to conflict, displacement and abandonment of known means of livelihood as a result made parents begin to look at their girl children as a source of income in form of dowry if they became formally married. If they were on the other hand impregnated, the culprits were to give some gifts to the parents as a form of appeasement.

Birth control methods
The pill
Pros: It does not interrupt sex and can reduce bleeding, period pain, and PMT.

Cons: It does not protect against STIs; can have side effects; and vomiting, diarrhoea, antibiotics, and other drugs can interfere with its effectiveness.

Injectables

Pros: They do not interrupt sex and are good for those who forget to take daily pills.

Cons: Can cause irregular bleeding, do not protect against STIs, and it can take time for fertility to return to normal once you stop taking them.

The coil

Pros: Does not interrupt sex, can stay in for up to 10 years, and works as soon as inserted.

Cons: May cause irregular bleeding, does not protect against STIs, and there is a risk of pelvic infection.

Intrauterine system

Pros: Does not interrupt sex, can stay in for five years, and works as soon as inserted.

Cons: Some medication interferes with its effectiveness, it may cause irregular bleeding, and it does not protect against STIs.

Implants

Pros: Do not interrupt sex, work for up to three, years and may reduce painful periods.

Cons: Do not protect against STIs, and may cause irregular bleeding, no bleeding at all, acne or weight gain.

The patch

Pros: Does not interrupt sex and easy to reverse.

Cons: May be seen on the skin, certain medication can interfere with its effectiveness, and it does not protect against STIs

Diaphragm/cap

Pros: Can be put in any time before sex, can be reused, useful if seeking to avoid hormones.

Cons: Does not protect against STIs and cystitis can be a problem for some users.

Natural fertility tracking methods

Pros: it does not involve chemicals and is free from side effects.

Cons: it requires keeping a daily record, involves avoiding sex at some times during the month and does not protect against STIs.

Condoms

Pros: Widely available, protect against both pregnancy and STIs, and cause no medical side effects.

Cons: Putting them on requires practice and they can be damaged if handled roughly or used with an oil-based lubricant.

800 Ugandans trafficked- 2013 report

The love for money and a better life has made so many Ugandans willing to go and work a broad fall victims of human trafficking. Uganda is one of the countries in the world that have organized trafficking rings which have lured at least 837 Ugandans into conditions that border on modern-day slavery, a new report shows.

The 2013 report on Trafficking In Persons (TIP) indicates that of that number, 429 were victims of transnational trafficking, while 408 were trafficked internally.

 

Uganda was a destination for at least 20 victims from six countries: Madagascar, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Tanzania.

 

“We can’t tell exactly the percentage of the increase in victims of trafficking because there were no proper record mechanisms of trafficking cases in police in 2012,” said Moses Binoga, the coordinator of the Anti-Human Trafficking Taskforce at the ministry of Internal Affairs. “But what we know is that the number of reported cases increased in 2013 due to increased sensitisation on human trafficking.”

 

Binoga further told The Observer that not all human trafficking reports got by other agencies outside the police were registered as criminal cases, because some victims were uncooperative, while others lacked clear details.

 

“This explains why the statistics given in this TIP report are bound to be higher than the ones given in the police’s Annual Crime Report 2013,” he added.

 

The report found that deception, with promises of employment, care, education and marriage, was a key driver behind much of the trafficking. But force was sometimes used in cases related to human sacrifice.

 

Most transnational victims of trafficking were recruited by individuals and unlicensed companies in Kampala. The majority of the victims left the country disguised, usually by road, through neighbouring countries such as Kenya, Rwanda, and South Sudan.

 

Ugandan officials are scrambling to act on an envoy’s report that more than 600 Ugandan girls are trapped in Malaysian prostitution rings with no easy way out.

 

Advertisements pinned on the walls of shopping malls in Uganda’s capital promise young women a free ticket to a well- paying job in Malaysia as a nanny, maid or bartender. But the advertisements are a trap.

Uganda’s honorary consul in Kuala Lumpur said in a report released last week that up to 10 Ugandans are trafficked to Malaysia daily and that at least three have been killed there in the last two years.

The U.S. Department of State said in its 2011 report that Uganda “does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

According to the U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 ; Uganda is a source and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation.

Ugandan children are trafficked within the country for forced labor in the fishing, agricultural, and domestic service sectors, as well as for commercial sexual exploitation; they are also trafficked to other East African and European countries for the same purposes.

Karamojong women and children are sold as slaves in cattle markets or by intermediaries and are subsequently forced into domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, cattle herding, and begging.

Human trafficking of Ugandan children for the forcible removal of body parts reportedly is widespread; so-called witchdoctors seek various body parts of live victims for traditional medical concoctions commonly purchased to heal illness, foster economic advancement, or hurt enemies.

Exploitation

The highest number of complaints registered in cases of transnational trafficking included labour exploitation, mostly in the form of domestic work and sexual exploitation through forced prostitution in the Middle East and South East Asian countries.

 

Other forms of exploitation included human sacrifice, child marriage, removal of body organs for sale, and worker conditions similar to slavery.

 

According to the report, Ugandans were trafficked mostly to Kuwait (98), Syria (83), DRC (72), Malaysia (43), India (35), UAE (15), Turkey (13), Kenya (11), Qatar (10), South Sudan (10), Thailand (08), Saudi Arabia (04), Oman (03), Iraq (03), China (02), South Africa (02), Germany (02), USA (02), Rwanda (02), Czech Republic (01), Lebanon (01), UK (01), the Netherlands (02), and Switzerland(01).

 

At least 250 suspects were arrested over human trafficking-related cases last year. Of these, 56 were taken to court and two suspects were convicted of promoting human trafficking, the report says.

 

Over 77 cases of human trafficking are still before the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice and over 44 cases were dismissed due to loss of interest by the victims.

Food shortages hit nearly 800,000 refugees in Africa.

Heads of WFP & UNHCR issue urgent appeal as food shortages hit nearly 800,000 refugees in Africa. GENEVA -- The heads of the World Food Programme and United Nations refugee agency warned today that funding difficulties, compounded by security and logistical problems in some countries, have forced cuts in food rations for nearly 800,000 refugees in Africa, threatening to worsen already unacceptable levels of acute malnutrition, stunting and anaemia, particularly in children. Addressing government representatives at a meeting in Geneva, World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Ertharin Cousin and UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres made an urgent joint plea for US$186 million to allow WFP to restore full rations and prevent further reductions elsewhere through December 2014. For its part, UNHCR needs $39 million for nutrition support it provides to malnourished and vulnerable refugees in Africa.   “Many refugees in Africa depend on WFP food to stay alive and are now suffering because of a shortage of funding,” Cousin said. “So we are appealing to donor governments to help all refugees – half of whom are children – have enough food to be healthy and to build their own futures.” Across Africa, 2.4 million refugees in some 200 sites in 22 countries depend on regular food aid from the World Food Programme. Currently, a third of those refugees have seen reductions in their rations, with refugees in Chad facing cuts as high as 60 per cent Supplies have been cut by at least 50 per cent for nearly 450,000 refugees in remote camps and other sites in the Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan. Another 338,000 refugees in Liberia, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritania and Uganda have seen their rations reduced by between five and 43 per cent. In addition, a series of unexpected, temporary ration reductions has affected camps in several countries since early 2013 and into 2014, including in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. Some cuts were also due to insecurity that affected deliveries. “The number of crises around the world is far outpacing the level of funding for humanitarian operations, and vulnerable refugees in critical operations are falling through the cracks,” said High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. “It is unacceptable in today’s world of plenty for refugees to face chronic hunger or that their children drop out of school to help families survive,” he said, calling for a rethink on funding for displacement situations worldwide.    A joint UNHCR-WFP report issued in conjunction with today’s Geneva meeting says that refugees are among the world's most vulnerable people and warns that reductions in their minimum rations can have a devastating impact on already weakened populations. Many refugees arrive in countries of exile already in urgent need of emergency nutritional care. Lacking any means to support themselves in many host countries, they remain totally dependent on international assistance – sometimes for years – until they can return home or find other solutions. Generally, WFP tries to provide 2,100 kilocalories per refugee per day. Guterres warned that while a sustained 60 per cent reduction in rations would be catastrophic for refugees, even small cuts can spell disaster for already undernourished people. The impact, especially on children, can be immediate and often irreversible. Undernutrition during a child’s first 1,000 days from conception can have lifelong consequences, compromising both physical growth and mental development. Numerous studies have shown that this “stunting” leaves affected children at a severe social and economic disadvantage for the rest of their lives. Even before the most recent ration cuts, refugees in many of the camps surveyed were already experiencing unacceptable levels of malnutrition, despite some progress over the past five years in improving nutrition standards. For example, a programme to prevent and treat micro-nutrient deficiencies has helped to slow or even reverse rising malnutrition rates and associated problems in some areas. But the current shortfall now threatens to negate even those hard-won gains. Nutritional surveys conducted between 2011 and 2013 showed that stunting and anaemia among children was already at critical levels in the majority of the refugee sites. Only one of 92 surveyed camps, for example, met the agencies' goal of fewer than 20 per cent of refugee children suffering from anaemia. And fewer than 15 per cent of camps surveyed met the target of less than 20 per cent stunting among children. The surveys also showed that acute malnutrition levels among children under five years of age remain unacceptably high in more than 60 per cent of the sites. Refugees hit by the food shortages are struggling to cope, posing a host of additional problems as they resort to what the report calls "negative coping strategies". These include an increase in school dropouts as refugee children seek work to help provide food for their families; exploitation and abuse of women refugees who venture out of camps in search of work; "survival sex" by women and girls trying to raise money to buy food; early marriage of young girls; increased stress and domestic violence within families; and increasing theft and other activities that also raise tensions both within camps and with surrounding communities. The end result, the report says, is a "vicious cycle of poverty, food insecurity, deterioration of nutritional status, increased risk of disease, and risky coping strategies. Therefore, improving livelihood opportunities and food security is paramount to break this vicious cycle, and ensuring that previous investments and advances in nutrition and food security are preserved." In addition to urging donor governments to fully fund the refugee food pipeline, WFP and UNHCR are also encouraging African governments to provide refugees with agricultural plots, grazing land, working rights and access to local markets to promote greater self-sufficiency among refugees.  Given the unpredictability of funding, the agencies are also refining their methods of prioritising those affected by possible cuts to ensure that the most vulnerable are identified and receive the help they need. Refugees in Chad face severest food cuts Some 300,000 refugees in Chad, primarily from Sudan's Darfur region in the east and from the Central African Republic in the south, are among the worst affected by the cuts. Food distributions there have been slashed by up to 60 per cent, leaving refugees with a scant 850 kilocalories per day. In the south of Chad, some refugees are able to grow food on small plots provided by the government. In the arid east, however, that is not an option for most refugees. Nor is it a viable solution for newly arriving refugees. Desperately hungry refugees continue to cross daily into southern Chad from the strife-torn Central African Republic, only to find that hunger does not stop at the border. Recently, 24-year-old Habiba and her four children arrived after a harrowing three-month trek through the Central African bush. They went for days without food and water. By the time she crossed the border into Chad, Habiba was so weakened, starved and dehydrated that she could no longer breast feed her malnourished baby. "The children were always hungry," Habiba said a day after her arrival. "We walked through places where there was nothing to eat. I gave birth to my daughter in the bush, in the middle of the forest. But I had nothing to eat, so I have no more milk." When she was taken by UNHCR from the border to Dosseye camp, Habiba found that the health centre had run out of supplementary food for pregnant and nursing mothers.