TEENAGE PREGNANCIES IN GULU BLAMED ON HIGH POVERTY LEVELS
Ms. Anena urged all the stakeholders to work collectively toward ending teenage pregnancy and violence against children.
By Christopher Nyeko
GULU: The Gulu District Probation Officer, Ms. Anena Jessica, has blamed the high poverty level in the Acholi sub-region as the major attribution of teenage pregnancies and violence against children.
In an exclusive interview with this publication, Ms. Anena said that the high poverty level in Acholi has forced teenagers to provide food for their young ones, which she said has made the teens victims for the hungry men.
Ms. Anena encourages parents and guardians to provide basic needs such as food, medication, and shelter for their children in order to reduce teenage pregnancies.
She warned parents and guardians against failing to take care of their children, noting that it’s against the law according to Article 31 of the Uganda Constitution.
Ms. Anena urged all the stakeholders to work collectively toward ending teenage pregnancy and violence against children.
The Gulu Resident City Commissioner, Mr. Ichogor Charles, said that communities are not reporting cases of violence against children to the authorities and are unwilling to provide sufficient evidence.
He pledged to work toward ending violence against children in the Gulu district. ‘’I will work toward ending violence against children in Gulu District,’’ he pledged.
According to the statistics obtained from the Gulu District Probation Office, a total of 2,658 cases of violence against children were registered in 2022.
In the same year, 1,890 cases of teen pregnancies were registered both in Gulu City and District, and 287 children were neglected by their parents, of whom 108 were boys and 169 were girls.
The statistics also revealed that the city and district registered 152 defilement cases, out of which a total of 6 boys and 146 girls were defiled, respectively.
The statistic further revealed that 81 forms of physical violence, such as fighting, child labor, and corporal punishment, were inflicted on children, out of which 62 were girls and 19 were boys.
In all, 204 cases of child marriage were registered, of which 192 were girls and 2 were boys. 60 children were denied access to utilize its resources, opportunities, and services, of which 39 were girls and 21 were boys.
Recently, the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development launched the National Strategy to End Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy with the aim of promoting an enabling environment to end child marriage and teenage pregnancies.
The strategies also aim at developing and strengthening institutional, community and family system for prevention of child marriage and teenage pregnancies.
The strategy also aims at influencing changes in dominant thinking in regard to social and cultural norms that cause, drive and perpetuate the practice of child marriage and teenage pregnancies in society.
