Friday, July 5, 2013

Why the commemoration of Teenage pregnancies this World Population Day is a Waste of Resources in Developing Nations

As the world marks the July11th World Population day in commemoration of the day in which it is believed that the world's population hit the 5 billion persons in 1987, again as the purpose of the day dictates the world shall be reflecting on “the population trends and related issues” with focus this year on Teenage pregnancies.

In Uganda it is not the first time that the plight of innocent girls and boys – yes boys as well are affected by the problem world over – is being given attention. In 2007 the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) ranked Uganda 9th with 54.1% of girls married off before clocking 18 years in their 2006 survey publication entitled “Too Young to Wed: Education and action toward Child Marriage”. In their 2008 survey publication entitled “Before She's Ready: 15 places girls marry before 15” by World Vision Uganda ranked 13th in the world with 15.9% of girls married off before the age of 15.


Another study on child Marriages titled “Child Marriage and it's impact on Development: the case of Kasese District” carried out by Isis-WICCE, a global women’s rights organization, in the last quarter of 2011 indicated that the practice is rising at a faster rate in Kasese than before with most girls getting married off at 12 – 14 years of age.

Between January and June this year the World Vision Uganda again carried out a survey in Kiboga, Kyankwanzi, Bundibugyo, Hoima, Oyam, Soroti and Masaka districts and found out that child marriage is among the top two most rampant forms of child abuses.

In rural Uganda where the practice is perpetrated , a girl is expected to conceive at most 3 months after marriage hence contributing greatly to the teenage pregnancy statistic in the country. All the above studies note that the affected areas do suffer gross negative effects of the practice including chronic poverty, abject socio-economic and development levels, run-away school drop-out rates as early as primary level, high rates of HIV and STD infections, gender based violence not forgetting other child-birth and reproductive health related complications like fistula amidst the poor health care systems and infrastructure in the country.

While the thought of the plight as the international concern this 11th July may seem a relief to many as a peak into “the forgotten voiceless”, I do reserve my relief because of a number of issues with the uniform world interventions to the problems faced in the developing nations.

First, take an example Kasese District located in the southern slopes of Mt. Rwenzori, western Uganda with the war ravaged Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) bordering it in the West and water bodies George, Edward and Kazinga channel to the south.

The strategic location of the district as the gateway to numerous tourism opportunities in Queen Elizabeth national park and the Mt. Rwenzori National Park coupled with a long time industrial history and establishments in Kilembe Mines, Hima cement – the second largest cement factory in the country - and Kasese Cobalt Company, boosted by the infrastructure in Kasese Airport and the all weather tarmac Highway to the Capital Kampala among others surely do postulate a myriad economic development potential of the district locals in spite of the persistent influx of refugees from the eastern DRC.

The district is however dogged by mind boggling vex / puzzle of child marriages which not only greatly contributes to the exorbitant unemployment numbers in the country but also a robs the country of a good GDP fortune. The studies carried out indicate that every family in the district has a girl who has been either defiled or conceived as a teenager and no doubt has a significant contribution to the 85% of girls' primary school drop out rate in the district.

In spite of existing combative laws including laws against defilement that could be used to apprehend the perpetrators of the act, it does not seem to make it to the concern list of the political leadership / actors in the district or country that seem to be more concerned with lounging in prestigious hotels and air conditioned boardrooms to churn out more and more policies and laws – the other issue I have with the practice being the focus of the commemorations this year as elaborated below.

Secondly, out of a number of international treaties and convention declarations signed world over including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Abuja declaration on HIV/AIDs etc to-date, a number of governments have deliberately ignored responsibility to fulfill their commitments e.g Uganda has failed to commit 15% of the country's budget to Health sector as stipulated in the Abuja declaration to which it is a signatory. As a matter of fact it is on record that only 6 African countries have met the commitments in the Abuja declaration more than ten years after signing it.

Such treaties and proposals are the usual product of these kind of commemoration events and conferences being organized world over year after year in air-conditioned rooms filled with pomp, with no punitive measures stipulated and or implemented when a signatory fails to meet the commitments - only to be shelved as souvenirs.

Thirdly, the theme is focusing on the end result of a process rather than the process thus addressing the symptoms of the disease rather than addressing the disease itself as a pivot concern. In this article for instance the teenage and child marriages are the processes that lead to child and teenage pregnancies – the marriages are the disease in the developing countries and pregnancies the symptoms.

Lastly but not least, daily monitor of recent ran a story (http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1890598/-/8672ytz/-/index.html) in which it took the intervention of a senior police commander Andrew Kaweesi based in Kampala to have a police ambulance transport a woman in a village in Mbigi District who had failed to deliver the second twin to a hospital after the nurses abandoned her for dead – a clear indication that no matter the amount of will from the top leadership to serve, a number of their subordinates and would be support in effective and efficient service delivery are either demotivated, uninterested or simply do not care.

One thing however is to note here, some countries are just too messed up to be associated with the “ideal world”.

Okello Igune
Mr. FOWODE 2012 - 2013