NEWS- Health experts and human rights defenders in Rubanda District are advocating for accessibility of all forms of family planning methods to teenagers to reduce the worrying trend of adolescent pregnancies and unsafe abortions in Kigezi sub region.
Speaking over the weekend during an advocacy meeting to address the social- cultural and others barriers in the advancement of sexual and reproductive health and rights held at Volcano Hotel in Rubanda Town Council, the In-charge of Muko Health Center IV, Godfrey Bampabwire, revealed that 19 percent of pregnant women who visit different health facilities in the district are teenagers below the age of 19.
Bampabwire said family planning services should be given to some adolescents since some are sexually active.
Cue in…………… Bampabwire on teenagers
The team leader of Local Sustainable Communities Organization (LOSCO), Albert Taremwa, said that they last year carried out an assessment on sexual and reproductive health and rights in Kigezi region in major health facilities, and found that 231 induced abortions were carried out outside health facilities and called for concentrated efforts to fight the vice.
Cue in……………. Taremwa on Vice
The Rubanda District Principal Assistant Secretary, Elly Mucunguzi, and the District Police Commander, Abel Barugahare, said that the government should enact a policy that allows adolescents to be given contraceptives since girls as young as 15 are getting pregnant.
Cue in…………Mucunguzi & Barugahare
