ACHOLI SUB REGION: Medics in the Acholi Sub-region are worried over the growing number of teenage girls and women carrying out unsafe abortions in the region.
This comes against the backdrop of a troubling report indicating a total of 14,530 cases of post-abortion care were registered in various health facilities between 2020 and 2021 alone. Nearly half of those who had to be treated were so seriously endangered that they had to be admitted. No number is given for those who were able to get an abortion and didn’t need medical care afterward.
According to the report, which was collected from health facilities in the districts of Nwoya, Omoro, Pader, Kitgum, Lamwo, Gulu, Amuru, and Agago, 2,922 (38 percent) of the abortion cases registered in the Outpatient Department (OPD) were teenagers.
Out of the total cases registered, 7,729 were registered in OPD while 6801 were from the inpatient department.
The report shows that the highest number of post-abortion cases was registered in Gulu, with 2,775 admitted in the inpatient department and 2,043 attended to in OPD, followed by Pader District, where 2,037 cases were registered in OPD and 361 admitted to the inpatient department.
Kitgum District registered the third-highest abortion cases with 1,392 attended to at the OPD and 1,122 admitted, while Agago registered 846 in the inpatient department and 767 in the OPD.
In Nwoya District, 691 patients were admitted to the inpatient department while 273 were attended to from OPD, while Amuru District had 495 cases registered in OPD and 193 patients admitted to the Inpatient Department.
Meanwhile, in Omoro District, 421 cases were admitted to inpatient care and 349 were treated at the outpatient department, while Lamwo District had 391 cases admitted to inpatient care and 371 treated at the outpatient department.
Gulu District Health Officer, Yoweri Idiba, says cases of induced and non-induced abortions in the region are on the rise and worrying, arguing that there is a need for more sensitization to be conducted.
Idiba says that the most recent report shows that close to 4,000 cases of both planned and unplanned abortions are reported each year in the region.
He notes that the COVID-19 pandemic period that saw the government closing down learning institutions contributed greatly to the rise in teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions, mostly in rural areas.
“The trend is increasing, so it’s a challenge. Every year, over 2,000 children are lost through abortion, both induced and non-induced, which is a big challenge because it’s climbing up,” says Idiba.
The two years of COVID-19 lockdown unearthed underlying challenges that hadn’t been witnessed in the region among the teenage girls. Atiko also reiterates that the two years of COVID-19 lockdown unearthed
Atiko says there is a need for various stakeholders to join hands and boost peer education in the community to help reduce cases of teenage pregnancies that continue to be registered in the region.
He suggested the involvement of peer educators who speak the language of young people to spearhead campaigns against teenage pregnancies.
“If you don’t involve the peer groups, we will not be making any progress at all,” says Atiko.
Besides abortion, the region is also grappling with increasing cases of teenage pregnancy, whether it ends in abortion or not.
For instance, in Gulu City alone, between July 2020 and June 2021, a total of 1,675 cases of teenage pregnancy were registered, while between June 2021 and date, 1354 cases were recorded.
Meanwhile, in Gulu District, a total of 2,186 teenage pregnancy cases have been registered from July 2020 to date.
Early this year, medics in Gulu District and Gulu City tasked the local government leaders in the region with regulating the sale of abortion-inducing drugs owing to several complications that resulted from their usage among teenage girls and women.
The Medics focused in particular on misoprostol/Cytotec as one of the most commonly abused drugs.
Abortion is illegal in Uganda. The Penal Code Act (Cap. 120), in sections 141, 142, and 143, criminalises abortion, attempted abortion, and the sale of drugs intended to aid an abortion.