Uganda commemorates World Contraception Day

By Our Reporter

Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate the World Contraception Day on Saturday which was held under the theme “Lets roll back the teenage pregnancy crisis in Uganda”.

In Uganda, the contraceptive prevalence rate is at 26% (UDHS 2016) with 18% of married women using modern methods, while 6% use traditional methods.

In addition, contraception awareness remains still wanting as 25% of Ugandan adolescents aged 15 – 19 years already started child bearing and have given birth or are pregnant with their first child.

However, all is not gloom as service providers like Mariestopes also continue to provide high-quality, sexual and reproductive healthcare products for people in locations that are convenient.

Marie Stopes UG, one of the largest and most specialized sexual and reproductive health organization in Uganda, has for the past 30 years provided approximately 60% of contraception in Uganda to Ugandan women, men and young people in the under-served communities, that are predominantly young, living in poverty, residing in hard-to-reach rural locations and urban slums.

Teopista Nalyazi Tendo, one of the team leaders of the Marie Stopes mobile teams that serve clients in remote areas across Uganda says that the COVID – 19 pandemic has however affected their work greatly as they were unable to provide the family planning services as they were doing before.