NEWS / WHATS HAPENNING
Masaka records over 1,000 teenage pregnancies in lockdown
https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/masaka-records-over-1-000-teenage-pregnancies-in-lockdown-3521910
Masaka has registered over 1,064 pregnancies amongst school going children during the Covid-19 induced lockdown, according to the city’s Probation Officer, Ms Maria Nagawa.
Records available at the district probation office show that the victims are adolescent girls aged between 12 and 19.
According to Ms Nagawa, their report traces figures captured between March and November 2020, which was the period of the first lockdown.
She explains that the statistics are drawn from official records of expectant mothers who sought antenatal healthcare services at various health facilities in Masaka District and the City respectively.
“The number may even double that due to the prolonged lockdown and the presence of several other cases that might have remained unreported- especially in rural communities,” she said.
Besides pregnancies, the report also indicates that at least 688 other forms of child-human rights abuses were reported in the same period.
The cases among others include, child labour, neglect, and torture as well as domestic violence which directly caused harm to the young ones.
Although children returned home as a measure against the spread of Covid-19, Ms Nagawa says, authorities established that a several of them are involved in businesses that even predispose them to contracting the viral disease, citing dozens of minors casually vending facemasks at entrances of health facilities and around Masaka city.
Ms Nagawa, however, said that as part of the remedy, area leaders have embarked on a vigorous campaign aimed at providing psychosocial support targeting victims and their parents, to enable them recover from the social trauma and restore their hope.
“We are also looking at possibilities of sourcing for generous persons who can take up responsibilities of looking after the new-born babies, to allow the teenage mothers complete education,” she revealed.
The assistant Masaka District Education Officer, Mr John Baptist Muindwa said his office has also tasked teachers to provide support to learners that are victims of pregnancies and abuses.
He equally challenged parents ‘‘to keep their children engaged in home-based works as a way of killing the redundancy that can expose them to risky social behaviour.’’
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