Research
Background
During the early part of the Millennium Development Goals era, prevention of adolescent pregnancy, mortality and HIV prevention in adolescents and young people were not given sufficient attention due to a number of competing priorities.
As of now, the issue of teenage pregnancy and parenting has been the subject of debate over the past decade in developing countries with politicians, researchers and media in general voicing deep-seated concerns about the consequences of teen parenting for both mothers and children. Uganda is one of the countries with highest number of Early pregnancies and forced marriges.10% of girls are married off before the age of 15 and 40% of girls are married off before their 18th birth day by UNICEF report 2011.This problem is rooted in gender inequlity,poverty, girls and women are faced with sad culture of being seen as source of wealth, in some communities parents start to find husbands for their daughters on their first menstruation cycle so that can get brides and lack of sex education. Reduced access to reproductive health services and rights including poor access to contraceptives and issues to do with termination of pregnancy. Low implementation of laws and poor legal frame work.
Early pregnancies among adolescents have major health consequences for adolescent mothers and their babies. Pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading causes of death among girls aged 15-19 years globally, with low and middle –income countries accounting for 99% of global maternal death. According to health experts in the ministry of health-Uganda highlighted the need to amplify sexuality education which is only way to demystify and overcome myths and misconceptions which many Ugandan teenagers are duped to believe especially in rural areas. For instance, many young girls from financially vulnerable families are lured into becoming pregnant because they are made to believe that its only way to avoid going into menstruation cycle since their parents are too poor to
Afford sanitary pads for them.
Clearly the problem of inadequate sexuality education, reproductive health services and rights is larger and more complicated than some stakeholders may think. That is why adolescent health must be made
A top priority in the plans of many government ministries and its implementing partners, there is a need for enactment of policies that are gender and age-responsive to adequately address the unique concerns of young people especially the girl child.
Because of the enormity of the problem, the is no way the ministry of health or even government can manage alone without stakeholders, such as religious leaders, cultural leaders and NGOS, enthusiastically coming on board.
Nongovernmental organizations have been at forefront of efforts to prevent adolescent pregnancy through bold and innovative projects.
Our goal is to identify and implement effective strategies to reduce the risk of teenage pregnancies through qualitative research
Piloting the Project
TMRHP is intending to carry out Teenage pregnancy pilot project research in three districts of greater luweero-Uganda. Combined with good science, strong leadership and management.
This study will focus on gathering information on health, education and social-economic impact of teenage pregnancy on teenage mothers, the family and the community to assess the current provision and utilization of SRH services for teenagers in order to inform the design of the project to assist in reducing the risk of teenage pregnancy and advocate for the needs of teen mothers.
Qualitative research methodologies will be utilized to address the research questions.
A combination of semi structured interviews, focus group discussion and key informant interviews will be administered to the research participants.
Questions answered by the project
This research will aim to answer the following questions in order to facilitate a holistic approach to teenage pregnancy in greater luweero Uganda:
- What are the factors contributing to teenage pregnancy in the target areas?
- What are some of the beliefs, attitudes and practices about teenage sex, contraceptives, pregnancy and parenthood among male and female teenagers and community members?
- What are some of the social, health, educational or economic issues that teenagers who become pregnant experience?
- What are social, health and economic services currently exist for teenagers who are pregnant, at risk of becoming pregnant or have already got kids?
- What are barriers to SRH service utilization?
Project Beneficiaries
The study targets representatives from the community, potential direct beneficiaries of the project, education providers and health providers/policy makers:
- Sexually active teenage girls (Aged 13-19 years)
- Sexually active teenage boys (Aged 13-19 years)
- Teenage mothers (Aged 13-19 years)
- Family support units
- Head of schools
- Village health teams (vhts)
- District health teams
- SRH Clinics
Project Objectives
The overall goal of the Teenage pregnancy project is to identify and implement effective strategies to reduce the risk of teenage pregnancy in the disadvantaged rural areas of greater Luweero communities:
Community Based strategies
To design, implement and evaluate integrated community-based strategies to address the intricate the, education and livelihood issues associated with teenage pregnancy
Responsive Health Services
To facilitate access to confidential and youth-friendly reproductive health services at the community level
Understanding Attitudes & benefits
To gain deeper understanding of knowledge ,attitudes, beliefs and practices relating to teenage pregnancy through qualitative research in TMRHP operational areas in Luweero in order to make recommendations.