Dorothy Okware Champions the Fight Against Teenage Pregnancy in Busia District

Abraham Lincolns

Busia

The hopeful parliamentary candidate for Busia district Woman Member of Parliament Dorothy Okware taken the lead in championing the fight against teenaged pregnancy in the border district challenging parents for consistently neglecting their duties.

Speaking to voters in Bugundukira in Dabani sub county, Busia district, Okware noted that a number of girls have dropped out of schools due to early pregnancies attributing it to laziness and carelessness by some parents giving little or no time to the adolescent children.

According to Okware, the national teenage data from 2021-2022 indicates that 25 per cent of the Ugandan girls aged 15-19 years have had a child or are pregnant rating it at 18.9 per cent leaving Busia at 31 percent.

“Busia border district face challenges including a high risk of teenage pregnancy, rating us at 31 per cent and ranked as one of the most affected districts in the country just because some parents are lazy and carefree when it comes to nurturing and providing basic requirements like sanitary pads to their daughters”, Okware said.

Okware added that child labor in activities like cross-border trade and mining have increased the vulnerability to sexual violence and exploitation to the girl child as a result of poverty, parental neglect, limited access to education and sexual health services.

“The teenage pregnancy rate in Busia is higher than the national average, often leading to unsafe abortions, social marginalization, and exclusion from education due to cultural taboos around discussing sex”, Okware added.

The iron lady running in these campaigns as an independent asked government, the civil society and all stakeholders to break chains of limited access to services of sexual and reproductive health services for girls in the area to combat the combination of transactional sex and multiple sexual partners that expose girls to a high risk of HIV.

“As young leaders, we need to Make Busia a safer place for adolescent girls and prevent them from Night-time fundraising events like discos that often attract children and further increasing their vulnerability to unprepared sexual harassment and other negative consequences”, Okware added.

Okware’s unique message to the voters has many of her voters yearning to see her on the floor of parliament to address such pertinent issues for government intervention.

“Her message is unique from the rest of the candidates whom we only see dancing along the roadsides with no clear agenda. We can’t wait to see her swearing in as our next Woman Member of Parliament for Busia district”, Auma Jessica and a female leader in Busia Municipality emphasized.