News

I had a vasectomy and I am doing just fine- RDC Koboko

Reproductive Health Uganda recently had a brief chat with the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Koboko District, Yahaya Kawooya, about his decision to have a vasectomy. Mr Kawooya, also a male cahampion of family planning had this to say:

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Why Contraceptives?

Every 26th of September is World contraception day. The theme this year is ”The power of options ”. There’s 7 billion of us on this planet and the population just keeps growing. Babies are awesome. They have cute beady eyes, infectious smiles, that baby talk we love but don’t understand, the adorable outfits for the gram… and when they grow up you can send them to fetch the remote. It’s all too precious. But we can’t keep popping them out like there’s free resources just lying around. As awesome as babies can be, do not get entrapped by the peer pressure from friends or family to have as many than you can feed!

How long till you pop out the next kid?

It all depends on the couple’s plan. Some babies are oops babies. Precious nonetheless. A newborn can take over your life. So try to think about whether you and your partner have the time and energy a baby requires. And ask yourselves whether your other children are ready to deal with the reality of a baby in the home. Studies suggest that getting pregnant within 18 months after your first child is born can make it more likely that your second child will be born early, underweight, or smaller than usual. So…. you might want to wait for at least 24 months.

What Can I get on?

What works for your unique body and lifestyle won’t necessarily work for someone else. There’s no “perfect” one, but there is probably one out there that’s perfect for you. And what works for you now might not work for you in 10 years. Mum and dad need to work this out together. Talk to your doctor. Based on your age, lifestyle and medical conditions, they’ll let you know what works best. Our professional doctors at all our branches country wide are happy to take you through a range of options that might work to you! Click here to reach out!

Short Term Options??

• Contraceptive injection (renewed every eight weeks or every 12 weeks, depending on the type)
• Combined pill (taken every day for three weeks out of every month)
• Progesterone-only pill (taken every day)
• Contraceptive patch (renewed each week for three weeks in every month)
• Condoms
• Rhythm method

Long term options?

• Vasectomy
• Tubal Ligation
• IUD

Religious leaders caution on giving birth too early, too soon and too often

IRC was well represented

In the third and just concluded National Family Planning Conference held at Munyonyo, the religious leaders’ presence was hard to miss. It was how further in they leaned towards accepting family planning as a tool for achieving development that stood for us as Reproductive Health Uganda. Speaking on behalf of the Archbishop-elect, Samuel Stephen Kaziimba, Sheikh Ali Waiswa, Deputy Mufti, Uganda religious leaders’ council, re-affirmed this commitment. (more…)

RHU wins the 2018 Financial Reporting (FiRe) Awards

Financial Reporting Awards promote best practices in financial reporting complying with international financial reporting standards as prescribed by https://www.icpau.co.ug/fireawards/

We are proud to have emerged winners for the National Non-Government Organizations Category for the year 2018

Check out our winning 2017 Annual Corporate Report  https://bit.ly/2FsKx9N

Framework to monitor and track family planning supplies launched

In June, Kapchorwa district council approved a framework developed entirely by local community stakeholders to monitor and track family planning supplies to the last mile. The first of its kind, the plan does not require funding and involves all stakeholders in the commodity supply chain to ensure that each one safeguards access to family planning and reproductive health commodities.

Ministry of Health reports incidents of stock-out—many service delivery points go without receiving commodities for as long as six months. Meanwhile, some facilities face stock accumulation, which leads to commodities expiring before making it to users. These issues speak to delivery inefficiencies in the supply chain rather than a lack of commodities in the country.

Through the Opportunity Fund, with support from Advance Family Planning (AFP), Reproductive Health Uganda consulted Access Global Ltd and community members in Kapchorwa district to develop community-based strategies to address the supply chain bottlenecks. The Opportunity Fund, administered by PAI with the support of AFP, is a funding mechanism enabling advocates to seize opportunities to strengthen Family Planning 2020 commitments and their implementation at the local, national, and regional level.

In December 2017, RHU and Access Global Ltd facilitated training sessions on social accountability and health rights using the CARE International Community Score Card—a guide that empowers communities to participate in providing essential information and constructive feedback. Fifteen select community members attended: representatives from the village health team, women, youth, and health unit management committees. As active members of community, all participants in turn mobilized their networks and engaged duty bearers.

The trained community members and Access Global Ltd conducted key informant interviews and community dialogues and researched archival records to collect detailed data on stock-outs, accumulations, and expiries; key bottlenecks in the supply chain; and power centers in private and public health facilities.

After months of research, in April 2018, RHU and Access Global facilitated a workshop to discuss the findings with the trained community members and partners from the district family planning advocacy working group. Based on the data, they developed a framework for the district to track and monitor supplies. The framework includes:

• conducting monthly drug monitoring reports for district health offices,
• integrating family planning into an existing supervision tool, and
• including community feedback on contraceptives and services into reports by village health teams and implementing partners.

Between April and June, the advocacy team presented their outputs to the district health team, the social services committee, and the district executive committees—all of whom endorsed the ask for the local government to adopt and approve the community-led oversight framework.  In June, the secretary for social services presented it to the Kapchorwa district council. With the endorsement of key committees, the strategies were approved by the council with no objections.

Going forward, RHU will continue working with the district health office on roll-out. They are documenting the process with the aim of replicating in other districts.

National Sexuality Education Framework Launched

The Ministry of Education and Sports launched the National Sexuality Education Framework at Kampala Parents’ School. The Framework is Uganda’s first ever guideline on sexuality education which seeks to create and overarching national direction for response in respect to sexuality education in the formal setting of educating young people in Uganda.

To date, young Ugandans are continuously exposed to sexual and reproductive health challenges, such as high cases of early marriages, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, and sexual and gender-based violence.

In the last decades, sexuality education has been a controversial issue in Uganda, often portraying inaccurate information about sexuality through mass media outlets and traditional beliefs. The development of the National guideline, therefore, is a blueprint in guiding teaching of age appropriate and cultural and religious sensitive sexuality education in schools.

“The Framework will guide on sexuality education for Uganda’s youthful population. It is important to note every young person will one day have life-changing decisions to make about their sexual and reproductive health,” said Ms. Rosa Malango, the UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda.

During the launch event, First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Hon. Janet Museveni stated that “We owe our children a holistic education that goes beyond academic, but empowers children with life skills, values and builds character.”

The Education minister, Ms. Janet Museveni also said that the government has formulated the National Sexuality Education framework which will now guide the teaching of sexuality education in institutions of learning

The National Sexuality Education Framework will promote and facilitate the development and delivery of sexuality education programmes in the educational system in Uganda that will go a long way in promoting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and Uganda Vision 2040.

Reactions

Ms Patricia Rutiba, a mother of three, said she is comfortable as a parent to be the one to introduce sexuality education to her three -year-old child.

Representing the Inter-Religious Council, Rev Can William Ongeng, the Church of Uganda Provincial Secretary, appealed to government to work hand in hand with religious bodies in developing the material and implementing the framework so that the country’s values are recognized.

“We support the framework but it must be guided. Nobody should do it with selfish motives. It should be done with guidance from parents as well. The teaching must be guided by the religious faith to see that each child is helped,” Rev Ongeng said.

Ms Museveni said teachers would be trained on the new policy

About the framework

With the framework now in place, the messages have been grouped into five categories.

The early childhood group between the ages of three to five will be introduced to knowing themselves, recognize forms of unacceptable body touch to develop self- awareness and refusal skills.

The lower primary level has children between six to nine years and will learn and discover their talents, understand unacceptable body touch and appreciate the changes in male and female body during puberty.

Upper primary with pupils aged between 10 and 12 year are expected to be able to define purpose of one’s life, maintain personal hygiene and commit to sexual abstinence.

The fourth group looks at lower secondary with students of 13 to 16 years. Here, the document proposes that a child should be able to cope with risky behavioral vulnerability during puberty and be able to identify where and when to seek appropriate reproductive health services.

The last group has considered those children who are 17 years old and above.

The emphasis in the framework is put on the role of gender and power in relationships, how to apply personal values, commit to pre-marital abstinence and marital faithfulness and to be able to appreciate the role of strong marriages and families in national development.

 #UDecideMbra activities

Day 3 #UDecideMbra activities started off with a peer review meeting at Kinoni health Center 4 together with Reproductive Health Uganda and our peer educators chaired the meeting which started off with a prayer led by Comfort. The purpose of the meeting was to review the reports made by the peers and also note the challenges being faced and how they can addressed.

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World Health Day #HealthForAll – April 7

The World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on April 7, under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as other related organisations.

WHO is calling on world leaders to live up to the pledges and commit to concrete steps to advance #HealthForAll. The Organization will maintain a high-profile focus on UHC via a series of events through 2018, starting on World Health Day on 7 April with global and local conversations about ways to achieve health for all.

Everyone has a part to play, stimulating conversations and contributing to structured dialogue towards policies that help your country achieve and maintain UHC.

Specifically,

• Government ministries bring about policy change to improve health and spur economic growth and social development.
• Parliamentary health committees and health groups mediate between those that develop policy and those that execute it.
• Political parties frame their programmes to meet the expressed needs of their supporters.
• Professional associations protect the welfare of the workforce.
• Civil society organizations work on the ground and represent the concerns of different population groups.
• Individuals use their own voices to demand good health services.
• The media can help increase understanding of UHC as well as transparency and accountability in policy-making.

International Women’s Day-March 8

WHEN: March 8, 2018 all-day

WHERE: Busuubizi Core Primary Teachers college
Mityana District.

On Thursday 8th March 2018 RHU will join the rest of the world and fellow Ugandans to commemorate the International Women’s Day under the theme; “Empowerment of Rural women and Girls: opportunities and challenges.”The day’s activities will be held at Busuubizi Core Primary Teachers college, Mityana District.