The Ministry of Health has warned that girls below the age of 18 that use contraceptives are at risk of developing cervical cancer and other serious complications.
22 percent of adolescents have ever had sexual intercourse yet 25% of them aged 15-19 years are pregnant or already mothers,
According to the MOH Senior Gynecology Consultant Dr. Placid Mihayo says 10 percent of the sexually active adolescents aged 15- 19 years had their first sexual encounter before age 15.
He adds that many of them tend to use contraceptives as a method of preventing early pregnancies and end up developing cervical cancers.
However, Rd. Henry Mwebesa, the Director General Health Services calls on parents, stakeholders and schools to advocate for sex before marriage campaign among adolescent girls in order to prevent them from acquiring dangerous diseases.
MEANWHILE, The sanitation crisis at Kasensero Landing site in Kyotera district is complicating management of HIV/AIDs.
The population at the landing site, where the first case of HIV/AIDs was reported in Uganda in around 1983, is currently at more than 25,000 people and available records indicate that the HIV prevalence rate at the site currently stands at 40%.
Jane Nabukenya, a Nursing Assistant at Kasensero Health Centre II, says that they are faced with a problem of secondary infections arising from poor hygiene.
According to Nabukenya, many of the patients enrolled on ART are also infected with Diarrhoea and typhoid which they regularly contract due to poor human waste management, which weakens their immunity and affects treatment.
Deogratius Nsamba, the Kasensero Central Ward chairperson also acknowledges the sanitation crisis. He, however, says that they have jointly embarked on lobbying the district authorities to avail the area with more eco-friendly public toilets.
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