WE NEED POLITICAL MATURITY IN HANDLING THE TEENAGE PREGNANCIES DILEMA.

Daniel Ongom Azik

The media, both mainstream and social, has over the past few months
been awash with stories of how several girls in many regions of Uganda have succumbed to the much loathed scourge of teenage pregnancy.

This is a rather sad situation for us as a nation as our dear grand daughters, daughters and sisters that are of school-going age and
are not yet mentally and physically ready to bear and raise children are now, with immense risk to their health and future, set to be mothers.

The dangers of teenage pregnancy can not be overemphasized. Dr. Gillian Dean, Senior Director of Medical Services for
Planned Parenthood Federation of America contends that the
challenge is that the bodies of teenagers are still growing and
maturing and these young ones often face more challenging social situations, which can be a risk for poor pregnancy outcomes.

For example,teens are usually not prepared for the realities
involved in parenting a child.The pressure and financial burden combined with the need to balance school and parenting are
stressful and can put a newborn at risk.

Secondly, statistics show that teens that give birth are seldom lucky enough to complete school.This in essence places a hurdle before us as a nation in our endeavour to skill our citizenry and
workforce.

As remarked by Doctor Dean, teens who are pregnant are at great risk of Preeclampsia, a disease in pregnancy
identified by high blood pressure (HBP) and other symptoms like
protein in the urine, or problems with internal organs, like liver or
lungs.

And lastly, as reported by the World Health
Organization,complications during pregnancy and childbirth are
the leading cause of death for 15–19-year-old girls globally.

So we are actually dealing with a very serious situation

The World Health Organization has reported that an estimated 21 million girls aged 15–19 years in developing
regions become pregnant and approximately 12 million of them
give birth every year. Similarly, at least 777,000 births occur to adolescent girls younger than 15 years in developing countries.

The above statistics clearly show that teenage pregnancy is a global
challenge that has bedeviled the entire international community, particularly developing countries, and not something merely peculiar to Uganda.

Sadly, many of our so-called leaders have attempted to politicize the problem in obviously selfish endeavours to get cheap
popularity.

It is unpatriotic for disgruntled
political leaders of whatever party or ideology to seek to politicize
this problem as a vote-hunting avenue. The more mature thing to do would be for our leaders to join hands with Government and seek to find workable solutions to this problem.

For its part, the Government has, through its leaders communicated its commitment to seeing an end to this anomaly.

This is not only a green-light but also a step in the right direction
and gives us as members of the Civil Society and Citizens of
Uganda great hope.

As Mazugumzo, we are available and happy to throw our entire
weight behind the Government and other persons working to
combat this problem.

By Daniel. Ongom. Azik
(The writer is a lawyer and member of Mazugumzo)