The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa is considering the need to come up with reproductive healthcare contraceptives to safeguard adolescent girls in the country against unplanned pregnancies.
This was revealed during a meeting with a visiting delegation of British Lawmakers under their umbrella body All Party Parliamentary Group – APPG; health activists from Parliamentarians Forum on Food Security, Population and Development, Marie Stopes Uganda and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Monday.
During the meeting, the officials discussed family planning and sexual reproductive health and rights. This is when Tayebwa observed that teenage pregnancies should be dealt with decisively rather than responding to mitigate related challenges after a girl has been impregnated.
According to Dr Charles Ayume the Koboko Municipality MP, who also led Parliament’s Committee on Health, although discussing birth control for teenagers sounds corrosive, Uganda has registered a great contraceptive prevalence over the past three decades.
Dr Mary Otieno a Technical Advisor at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) prayed that the Parliament passes the necessary policy legislation such as the adolescent health policy which will help Uganda achieve her Vision 2040 of reducing the population growth rate from 3.2 per cent to 2.4 per cent thereby reaping the demographic dividend.
Baroness Liz Sugg the Leader of the visiting Parliamentarians said for both UK and Uganda to grow, women and girls need to be supported in their sexual reproductive health and rights to bring an end to child marriage and Female Genital Mutilations – FGM among others.
