Students across the country from different higher learning institutions in the region have agreed to be change-makers towards the fight against teenage pregnancies which is currently a major factor among others contributing to school dropouts.

Speaking at the event that gathered at Lemigo Hotel, Julia Muhumuza, the President of the Uganda National Students Association, said teenage pregnancies are an alarming issue troubling not only Rwanda but the region in the general.

Reflecting on her home country, the student leader said, Kalangala is one of the districts in the country with high rates of teenage pregnancies.

Muhumuza pointed out that the high rates are majorly attributed to the tradition of silence on matters related to sexually related topics.

“We have young girls who are exposed to teenage pregnancies because we don’t have easy access to sexual and health reproductive services.”

“Our culture tells us that we should keep quiet,” she added.

“This is also because young girls engage in sex because of the transactional sex in search for money.”

Thomas Mwesigye, Rwanda National Youth Coordinator also echoed the same sentiment arguing that teenage pregnancies are an alarming issue threatening the youth across the region and therefore called on fellow youth to gather effort towards finding a sustainable solution to the problem.

“Teenage pregnancies are an alarming issue and it is not an exceptional case for Rwanda,” he said adding “We should therefore stand up for the problem at hand.”  

Disclosing on the national youth campaign on teenage scheduled next month dubbed Birandeba campaign, Mwesigye said is one of the agenda that will be aimed at sensitizing the citizens' involvement in the campaign and called the varsity students to join efforts in the campaign.

“I call Join you to join us in the campaign,” Mwesigye added.

Statistics show that 70% of Rwanda’s population are youth among which 63% are students and 11% are at the university.

Figures also show teenage pregnancy was at 17,000 and 23,000 respectively between 2016 to 2020 among which of those, 2% were impregnated by relatives, 33% by young men aged 25 years and above and 1% by their teachers, and 5.0% by leaders.

Celine Babona Mahoro, Legal advisor, PLAN International, a non-governmental organization advocating for the children’s rights and equality of girls called on boys to join the campaign for the problem to handle sustainably.

“I am calling my brothers to join the effort towards fighting teenage pregnancies because they are the ones that are impregnated girls,” she said.

“To tackle school dropouts together power holders please discuss those issues with responsible agencies.”

Evidence gathered by local researchers released last year indicated that Rwanda lags behind in terms of the application of contraceptives and access to health reproductive services compared to other countries in the region.

The researchers found out young women have low levels of awareness of effective long-acting reversible contraception, demonstrating no use of male condoms.

Overall 22% of all pregnancies in Rwanda were estimated to end in induced abortion according to the report.

Two weeks back, the parliament rejected the bill seeking to access contraceptive pills for young girls.