Tagged as: SRHR

World Population Day 2023: “Unleashing the power of gender equality”

World Population Day 2023: Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities.

Women and girls make up 49.7% of the global population, yet they are often ignored in discussions on demographics, with their rights violated in population policies.

This pervasive injustice keeps women and girls out of school, the workforce and leadership positions; limits their agency and ability to make decisions about their health and sexual and reproductive lives; and heightens their vulnerability to violence, harmful practices and preventable maternal death, with a woman dying every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth.

We must advance gender equality to create a more just, resilient and sustainable world. The creativity, ingenuity, resources and power of women and girls are fundamental to addressing demographic and other challenges that threaten our future, including climate change and conflict.

When women and girls are empowered by societies to exert autonomy over their lives and bodies, they and their families thrive.

The First Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda Commends Reproductive Health Uganda Efforts to Improve Sexual Reproductive Health Access and Address Disparities

The First Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda and Minister for East African Community Affairs, the Rt. Hon Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, has applauded Reproductive Health Uganda for its efforts in improving access to sexual reproductive health services in Uganda, particularly among vulnerable and marginalised communities.

Speaking during the RHU 67th annual general meeting held in Kampala, Hon Kadaga lauded the organisation for its dedication to improving the health status of Ugandans through increased access to sexual reproductive health services.

The emeritus Speaker of the ninth and tenth Parliament of Uganda acknowledged RHU’s key role in providing vital services including HIV and STI testing and counseling, family planning, and maternal health care to millions of people across Uganda.

Despite the commendable efforts of RHU in providing key sexual and reproductive health services, Hon Kadaga acknowledged that there was still a considerable gap in the availability of these essential services to communities.

Her remarks highlighted an unfulfilled need among vulnerable and marginalised groups, underlining the continued importance of work towards expanding provision of such vital health services in Uganda.

“Data clearly show that we have a significant disparity in access to sexual and reproductive health services, with my home region of Busoga alone accounting for over seven percent of the overall national figures on teenage pregnancies,” Hon Kadaga said, before adding, “This is a sobering statistic, and it underscores the urgent need for greater access to the range of vital sexual reproductive and health services.”

“The frequency of these inequalities represents an alarming failure of our collective efforts to safeguard young Ugandans, with damaging consequences for both individuals and society at large,” she said.

Hon Kadaga, emphasised the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing such sexual and reproductive health-related challenges, with increased involvement of men and boys.

“Despite well-intentioned interventions and programmes aimed at promoting sexual and reproductive health, many fail to engage men and boys adequately, limiting the effectiveness and reach of these initiatives,” she said.

Hon Kadaga highlighted the vital role that men and boys must play in addressing these issues and advocated for the inclusion of effective outreach, education, and support programmes targeted not only women and girls but also men and boys.

She said, by ensuring the active involvement of both women and men in such initiatives, it would be possible to drive change and make tangible inroads towards addressing sexual and reproductive health-related challenges, promoting more positive and healthy outcomes for all of Uganda’s citizens.

“We need to broaden our approach because it is not only girls who need education and support around sexual reproductive health. We also need to engage boys and men to ensure they are prepared for the responsibilities that come with sexual relationships,” Hon Kadaga noted.

This could be done by adopting comprehensive and holistic approaches that include mindset change to promote safer, healthier relationships.

She emphasised the collective responsibility to ensure sexual health and wellbeing of all Ugandans, of which everyone needed to rise to the challenge.

In a meeting filled with key stakeholders and partners, RHU showcased its recent achievements, unveiling several new initiatives aimed at reaching the underserved and vulnerable communities in Uganda.

Hon Kadaga called upon other organisations to emulate RHU’s efforts and support the establishment of essential health service delivery points in order to guarantee access to such services among the marginalised and vulnerable communities.

She pledged continued government support to RHU and other similar organisations devoted to improving reproductive health of Ugandans.

RHU easily has become a force to reckon with when it comes to sexual reproductive health services, mobilising communities and elites alike to ensure no one is left behind regardless of their ability to pay for the services.

RHU Launches Safe Hands App at ICFP 2022 in Thailand

The Youth Empowerment Digital Storytelling platforms for Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) were internationally launched today at the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) 2022 in Thailand.

The launch coincided with the official launch of the Safe Hands exhibition booth and the ICFP 2022 exhibition hall at the Royal Cliff hotel in Pattaya city, Thailand.

Jackson Chekweko, RHU Executive Director, revealed that the Safe Hands and ASK RHU platforms enabled young people to access information about their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) issues.

“Young people are empowered to tell their stories using digital platforms, these stories are then presented to policymakers to initiate or enhance debates,” Chekweko said.

Chekweko was in the company of Tomoko Fukuda, Regional Director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) for the East, South East Asia, and Oceania Region, and Erica Belanger from Safe Hands.

In her words, Tomoko Fukuda encouraged the use of digital platforms among young people to create awareness about SRHR through photographs, text, video, and sound, and the need for better care and parenthood from parents. She says that the platforms are user-friendly and easy to access, which is an advantage to the user, and others can learn from Uganda.

“Other countries and organizations, I believe, can learn from Uganda and use the same methods to share and receive SRHR messages for young people,” Tomoko said.

Erica Belanger from Safe Hands which supports RHU under the Knowledge and Information on Safe Sex (KISS) appreciated strides taken by RHU in creating, and innovating digital tools and ways to communicate SRHR messages to young people.

Nakanjako Babirye Aidah, KISS project, and RHU Communications Officer say the goal of the KISS digital storytelling project is to use these digital stories to raise awareness about the SRHR day-to-day social policy challenges, barriers to accessing SRHR services, budgets, and SRHR commodity needs, and aspirations of young people in Uganda. At the same time, adolescents are trained in basic interview, communication, and video recording techniques. They also learned how technology can be used to address social issues in communities and how they can play a role as change agents.

“Hundreds of boys and girls in Kabalore district have participated in this project, resulting in stories about topics including sexual & reproductive health challenges, social & economic challenges, voices of youth leaders, and youth & entrepreneurship. The videos can be viewed in the project’s Facebook group,” Nakanjako said.

RHU desires to hear stories from young people themselves. In a bid to achieve this, efforts to establish a number of regionally based platforms to collect and disseminate SRHR information to and for young people, some in their native languages. This is ongoing in a number of Ugandan projects aimed at young people. A digital hub and toll-free line have already been put in place, particularly for young people to share, ask, and receive information about SRHR by RHU in Uganda.

The ICFP 2022 is ongoing under the theme: “Family Planning + Universal Health coverage: Innovate, collaborate, accelerate” at the Royal Cliff hotel in Pattaya city, Thailand.

The author of this article Aldon Walukamba is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator

Read more about RHU digital platforms

Ask RHU launch in Uganda

Menstrual health needs surge among vulnerable people in Uganda

Uganda – The 2021 outbreak of violence in the Equatorial region of South Sudan has displaced inside South Sudan, nearly two million people while outside the country there are now over two million South Sudanese refugees, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda. Many have fears of imminent attack or struggle with food insecurity, sexual reproductive health issues, trauma, and menstrual health among young girls and women. People were forced by over 35,000 to flee to Uganda, roughly 75 percent of refugees from South Sudan are women and children.

Women and girls displaced by conflict face extraordinary hardships in most refugee camps and urban areas of Uganda. Many endure grave risks, including gender-based violence, which can escalate in humanitarian settings. Most are thrust into poverty – cut off from education and life-saving health services, including menstrual health.

Displacement exacts another huge toll on women and girls. In the refugee camps and Uganda’s urban areas, their most intimate and taboo health needs are often overlooked, to devastating effect.

“I had my first period here at the settlement,” said Joyce Tabaria, 12, whose family now lives in the Ayillo II settlement, home to over 39,000 refugees. “I had no idea what was happening. For me, that day was sad and shameful.”

Stigmas surrounding menstruation have existed across cultures in Uganda, also affecting indigenous people and history has it that most people in the community neglect or don’t care about issues of menstrual hygiene. And it’s not uncommon for women and girls to internalize these destructive myths.

A report published by International Rescue Committee (IRC) earlier this year details the extent to which lack of menstrual care, period shame, and misinformation reinforce gender discrimination, rendering women and girls vulnerable to poverty, violence, and harmful practices.

The IRC report reads, “Out of the 79% women and girls that indicate experiencing menstrual pain, only 28% have access to pain killers. While right and adequate menstrual health hygiene (MHH) information are limited. For school girls, a major source of information is schools (61%), peers (45%), workmates (37%), and CSOs/NGOs (27%)”.

In Uganda, the idea that menstruating women and girls are unclean contributes to their exclusion not only from family life but also from education and employment.

Dr. Peter Ibembe, Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) Director of Programs says that in some places, isolation and expulsion from the home can be dangerous, exposing women and girls to extreme weather and sexual violence.

“In others, the onset of menstruation is associated with child marriage, which heightens the risk of adolescent pregnancy and life-threatening complications before, during, and after childbirth” says Dr Ibembe.

According to some vulnerable refugees and displaced people in Uganda, displacement magnifies these conditions.

“When I’m menstruating, I usually use strips of absorbent cloth, but in the settlement, it is difficult to get this cloth,” Hellen Aleyo in Kasese told RHU.

The unmet needs for sexual and reproductive health services intensify for women and girls in exile. Refugees need to receive adequate care and access to dignity kits in the settlements.

Harmful conditions in evacuation sites can wreak havoc on women’s sexual and reproductive health, while lack of access to hygiene supplies limits their mobility and heightens their vulnerability to sexual violence. Girls who do not have the ability to manage their menstrual health are also at greater risk of missing school or dropping out entirely.

Hellen Furaha, is the recipient of one of the sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR), menstrual health training, and dignity kits distributed to women and girls in the Muhookya internally displaced people’s settlement in the Kasese district. The kits contain essential hygiene items such as sanitary pads, underclothes, soap, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.

As we celebrate menstrual health month 2022, it is important to note that RHU works with partners SRHR Alliance with support from Rutgers to deliver dignity kits to women and girls around Uganda in schools and in women’s and girls’ safe spaces. These safe spaces provide more than sexual and reproductive health services.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

In Uganda, acceptance of family planning is increasing

“It’s preferable to have one child than many,” Nyekuch, 28, at the Pagirinya health Centre III family planning section in Adjumani district, explained.

This is the counsel she provides to both men and women, yet she has had a totally different experience.

She married at the age of 14 and gave birth to her first child a year later, before the war in Sudan forced her to Uganda as a refugee. Before then, she was not required, like many other child brides, to seek an education, thus she never learned to read or write. She now has five children, all of whom she wishes to have a totally different destiny than she had.

“I hope that when my daughter is at least 22 years old, she will make the correct decisions and become a mother,” Nyekuch remarked. “By then, she’ll have completed her university education.” All of my children, I hope, will be able to receive an education.”

Nyekuch embodies the plight of Uganda’s vulnerable village women in many ways. According to the 2020 State of World Population report, the country’s fertility rate is five (4.6) children per woman, and on average 25% of women give birth while still teens.

The maternal mortality rate in the country is high, in part because health risks increase as women have more pregnancies. According to a recent joint United Nations study, over 368 women die during giving birth for every 100,000 owing to pregnancy-related causes.

Contraceptives reduce the risk of maternal injury and death by lowering the number of unplanned pregnancies, which account for 43% of all pregnancies in Uganda. Couples can also determine the appropriate family size for their situation by using family planning. Despite this, many people are wary of using family planning.

“This is due to a lack of comprehensive information, inadequate counselling skills among health service providers, limited access to contraception, users’ fear of side effects, and misinterpretation of religious doctrine regarding family planning,” Dr. Peter Ibembe, Reproductive Health Uganda Director of Programs, explained.

Some cultural influences, such as the inclination and desire to have a big family, by some couples also play a key role.

Advance Family Planning (AFP) initiative is working closely with the Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), Ministry of Health to ensure a reliable supply of contraceptives to government health facilities. RHU also trains health workers and provides technical support to health facilities, like the family planning units at health centers in Uganda, through its 20 clinics and branches spread across the country.

RHU, in partnership with AFP is also increasing the family planning choices available to women, but also executing out advocacy activities among policy makers, media and the community. At the centre in Uganda’s vulnerable communities, women are able to select from a variety of safe, reliable contraceptive methods, including condoms, pills, injections, implants and bi-tubal litigation or vasectomy.

Contraception is steadily gaining traction in this traditionally conservative society. According to a government survey, barely 30% of married Ugandan women employed contemporary techniques of family planning in 2016. As per Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) reports, 40% of married women utilized contraception by 2020.

Most of the women Nyekuch knows take injections, implants, or tablets, according to her. “Only a handful couples I know employ alternative ways. I, too, utilize the injection “she stated

However, there is still considerable skepticism. Contraceptive implants, for example, are feared by many people, despite the fact that they are safe and provide long-term protection against unintended pregnancy. “People are reluctant to use them, and husbands won’t let them because they’re worried their wives won’t be able to have children again,” Rhoda Namukwana, a registered midwife at RHU Bwaise branch, stated.

Nkonanyi, was also visiting the RHU outreach family planning Centre in Kyangwali refugee camp. She was married at only 13, and her first baby was born the following year. Now, at age 25, she has two children and relies on family planning.

“We barely scrape by,” Nkonanyi explained, revealing that the family relies on her husband’s salary as a community digger to make ends meet. “If I send my son to school, we will want more funds for his school uniform, books, notebooks, and other necessities.” That’s something we can’t afford.”

She wants both of her children to expect more from life. For instance, she hopes her daughter will not get married until she is 20, and Nkonanyi herself wants to wait before having more children.

“I’d like to wait at least three years before having another child.”

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

Reproductive Health Uganda strengthens disaster emergency preparedness plans

Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) has expanded its plans to prepare employees to respond in times of man-made and natural catastrophes in order to deliver better services to Ugandans.

The need to improve RHU staff awareness of how to deal with crises was recognized by Dr. Peter Ibembe, RHU Director of Programs, and Annet Kyarimpa, RHU Manager of Safe Motherhood, which led to the planning.

“It’s critical to recognize that an organization is prone to calamities and to plan ahead of time,” Dr. Ibembe added.

According to Kyarimpa, getting the relevant information, contributing, and planning for disaster preparation requires a coordinated effort on the part of the organization’s departments, units, and directorates (EPP).

When an emergency occurs, this will advise RHU on what to offer and how to provide integrated sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services.

“Common knowledge of duties and responsibilities in humanitarian and disaster response is crucial for workers,” Annet Kyarimpa explains.

For this reason, more than ten RHU employees gathered in Mbarara for a week to prepare an EPP that would help the company respond more efficiently in times of disaster.

The services of Seema Manohar, an EPP consultant, were obtained with the help of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Planned Parenthood Federation – Africa Regional (IPPFAR).

Seema underlines the need of having a separate strategy for each crisis, whether it is long-term or short-term.

But, as Seema pointed out, “we must remember that emergency response is a process and that we must always be prepared, since how quickly you respond to a tragedy counts.”

Edward Kiggundu, RHU Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, noted shortage of resources like as water, land, pasture, firewood, and food as sources of conflict among the vulnerable, underserved, and disadvantaged groups that RHU seeks to assist while delivering a study report. This he says affects delivery, access and follow up for those in need of integrated SRHR services from RHU.

RHU personnel and the consultant finished the emergency preparation planning meeting by putting up a draft document that will be used to direct operations during an emergency.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia appreciates RHU for empowering youths

Today’s youth in Uganda face numerous obstacles, ranging from persistent poverty to entrenched inequities. Yet, if concerned leaders act now, a major remedy is just around the corner.

Demographics are changing in many of Uganda’s poor, emerging regions, with a large number of young people entering the workforce and a decreasing number of dependents. These are possible indicators of economic growth that can occur when a larger proportion of the population is employed, allowing households to save and invest more money. These reforms, when implemented on a large scale, have the potential to lift entire communities out of poverty.

However, there will be no dividend if Ugandans do not invest in young people’s health, education, jobs, and human rights at the outset.

At a high-level meeting with visitors from the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) at RHU in Kampala, Jackson Chekweko, Executive Director of Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), said, “By tapping into the massive transformative capabilities of youth, entire nations stand to improve their prospects.”

“We need to invest more resources in teaching young people to be innovators, entrepreneurs, and change agents,” says Chekweko.  At the event, youth leaders echoed Jackson Chekweko’s call to action.

“Let young people contribute with our skills, our education, our opinions, and our active engagement,” said Daisy Kandole, the RHU’s Youth Assistant.

Efforts to empower, educate, and employ young people have the potential to have a widespread impact throughout society.

Mohammed Katabalwa, the RHU Youth Action Movement (YAM) Chairperson and a 25-year-old from Kampala, Uganda, is a striking example of this. Struggles characterize his neighborhood, which is plagued by poverty, high rates of sexually transmitted illnesses, and a lack of school-aged children.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Katabalwa had his share of hardships.

“I was just like any other young kid who wasn’t attending school, but the lockdown made it impossible for them to earn money,” he told FGAE officials.

He subsequently promoted the idea of creating liquid soap to RHU’s youth section, and he is now a role model for other young people.

This is because he participated in RHU’s youth social enterprise model training two years ago, a program that teaches young people about health and how to start small businesses.

RHU’s youth are also given the opportunity to communicate about social enterprises and sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) using digital channels .

RHU is commended by Getachew Habtie, FGAE Executive Director, for its strong work relationships among personnel and for developing youth.

Getachew remarked that “RHU embraces the diversity of young people and empowers them for a better and brighter future.”

FGAE YAM Chairperson Hawi Shemeles, on the other hand, was equally pleased that young people could obtain services and training at the RHU office.

“It’s incredibly convenient to have all of the offices in one location. The RHU personnel, clinic, and youth center are all in one location for youth. This attracts young people, “Hawi explained.

The FGAE team of five is in Uganda for a three-day visit to RHU clinics in Katego and Luweero in order to benchmark and discuss best practices between RHU and FGAE. The two organisations offer SRHR services at a national level and are affiliated to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Africa region.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

In humanitarian response, RHU calls for a greater focus on adolescent sexual health needs.

According to Jackson Chekweko, Executive Director of Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), humanitarian organizations must prioritize displaced adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health needs as soon as possible during a crisis to protect young people from sexual violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and early pregnancy.

Chekweko says that although relief agencies focus on providing food, water, and shelter for refugees in emergencies, the sexual and reproductive health needs of vulnerable displaced young people, particularly girls, are often overlooked or ignored entirely.

“We’re urging humanitarian organizations to include adolescent reproductive health services right from the start of any emergency response,” Chekweko told reporters at RHU headquarters.

With funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), RHU, together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Office of the Prime Minister in Uganda (OPM), and Medical Teams International, collaborated on a two-year project in Adjumani and Kampala refugee settings.

According to Annet Kyarimpa, the RHU-DANIDA MoFA project lead and manager for safe motherhood, governments, donors, and humanitarian and development organizations in Uganda are effectively addressing adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health risks in crisis situations.

Members of refugee communities say the cost of not doing so or disregarding adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is enormous, especially in locations like Adjumani and Kampala, which have expanding and chronic refugee populations due to violence and natural catastrophes.

Young people are not only a significant subgroup, but they also make up the majority of the population in many conflict and post-conflict zones. More than half of the population in conflict zones like South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Burundi, and Ethiopia is under the age of 20, according to Robert Andeoye, Pagirinya refugee camp Commandant.

Aldon Walukamba G, the author, is the RHU Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator.

RHU – DFPA root for Community Mentorship to Fight Gender-Based Violence

Hoima communities have been empowered to identify and report cases of sexual and gender violence (SGBV), courtesy of Reproductive health Uganda (RHU) and the Danish Family Planning Association (DFPA).

Nancy Apiyo, RHU Gender Coordinator says that the Sexual Reproductive Health Rights and gender equality (SRHRGE) project trained 1,100 persons 80% women on issues of gender-based violence (GBV) and SGBV in Hoima District. The SRHRGE project changed and relaxed acts of dislike of, contempt for, and ingrained prejudice against women.

Apiyo, says that these acts devalue women, normalize their abuse, and perpetrators claim GBV is accidental, ignores sexism, promote aggressive masculinity, and use men’s achievements to exonerate, excuse, and deny the impact of their behavior. Therefore, women have also been empowered to stand up for their rights and report GBV and SGBV issues, penetrate leadership positions and also fend for their families.

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Kyangwali Settlement Stakeholders Call for Continued SRHR Service Delivery as ACCESS Project Closes

Stakeholders in the Kyangwali refugee settlement in Kikuube district are calling for continued sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services, if there is to be a tremendous reduction in unplanned births, maternal deaths, teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.  In 2021, Reproductive Health Uganda’s (RHU) ACCESS, a project funded by the United Kingdom government (UKaid) was launched in the Kikuube district to accelerate the acquisition of enhanced and integrated SRHR and family planning services among the refugees and host communities in Kyangwali refugee settlement.

According to Dr. Peter Ibembe, RHU Director of Programs, the project focused on strengthening public systems to integrate and adopt SRHR services through training village health teams (VHTs), peer educators to provide home care.

The ACCESS project was also launched to co-produce solutions that improve preparedness efforts, response, and recovery efforts and that tackle urgent and sensitive SRHR issues.

The ACCESS project was reduced to nine months from three years after @UKaid called off funding its implementation.

This stunned RHU the ACCESS project implementers and stakeholders like United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Office the Prime Minister (OPM), Medical Teams International (MTI), Kikuube district local government, and Spice FM.

Kyangwali refugee settlement was selected to benefit from the project because:

• more than 30 women were dying each month from birth-related complications
• 600 babies are body every month
• The host communities and 130,000 refugees are underserved with family planning and other SRHR services
• High cases of teenage pregnancies, sexual and gender-based violence
• High HIV/ AIDS prevalence and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

However, within nine months of operation, 8000 people have benefited from free SRHR services, 60 VHT’s trained, and 20 health care providers. The project also provided bicycles to VHT’s, sanitation equipment and conducted outreaches at all health Centers in the Kikuube district.

However, as the project winds up in the district, stakeholders argue that the SRHR services offered and ACCESS project gains must be sustained.

Nicholas Kwikiriza, Kikuube district health officer says without the RHU – ACCESS project, maternal health challenges, teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and gender-based violence may increase. He calls on the OPM, UNHCR, and MTI to continue supporting the RHU – ACCESS project.

“the UNHCR, MTI, and OPM need to come out bravely to support RHU – ACCESS project to continue because of the demand for SRHR services and family planning created by the RHU – ACCESS project,” Kwikiriza said.

Robert Musiime, HIV/AIDS Coordinator at MTI says the challenges are still available that need the RHU – ACCESS project needs to continue.

John Bosco Kyaligonza, Kyangwali refugee settlement Commandant says such a very crucial project must be supported by another funder to maintain and increase SRHR services in the settlement.

Dr. Ibembe, however, says RHU is here to stay and welcome other funders to come on board after the ACCESS project closed its operations.

RHU – ACCESS project stakeholders from Kyangwali refugee settlement in Kikuube district