Nearly one in every four Ugandan girls aged between 15 and 19 becomes pregnant, putting thousands of girls at risk of dropping out of school and raising concerns about the country’s efforts to reduce teenage pregnancy to 15 per cent by 2030.

Government officials have warned that persistent poverty, harmful cultural practices, inadequate parental guidance and limited community involvement are undermining efforts to protect adolescent girls from early pregnancies and keep them in school.

Speaking at a Media Café organised by the Health Journalists Network Uganda (HEJNU) in partnership with Palladium and BBC Media Action, Francis Mondo Kyateka, the Assistant Commissioner for Youth and Children Affairs and Acting Commissioner at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, said teenage pregnancy, alongside early marriages, could be among the factors explaining the high number of children who fail to complete primary education.

Citing education figures, Kyateka said more than two million children enroll in Primary One, but only about 900,000 eventually sit the Primary Leaving Examinations.

He questioned the fate of the more than one million learners who do not reach the final primary school examination class, warning that losing children, particularly girls, from the education system undermines Uganda’s human capital development agenda under the Fourth National Development Plan.

“Teenage pregnancy in this country is a worrying national crisis, meaning everybody must act,” Kyateka said.

He attributed the persistent teenage pregnancy rates to poverty, harmful cultural practices, inadequate parental guidance and limited community involvement in protecting children.

Kyateka called on parents and communities to take greater responsibility for guiding adolescents and protecting them from circumstances that expose them to early pregnancies and marriages.

Dr Irene Mweyango of the Ministry of Health’s Adolescent and School Health Division said the prevalence of teenage pregnancy had declined by only about one percentage point, from approximately 25 per cent to 24 per cent, calling for a review of existing interventions.

“Teenage pregnancy is not a one-sector issue. It is a development issue that requires joint effort,” Dr Mweyango said.

She said the Ministry of Health was implementing interventions under the National Strategy to End Teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriage in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and other government agencies.

The interventions include strengthening health workers’ capacity to provide adolescents with reproductive health information and appropriate services, antenatal care for pregnant teenagers and family planning services for teenage mothers to prevent repeat pregnancies.

Dr Mweyango said the ministry was also working with education institutions, religious leaders and community structures to strengthen prevention efforts, particularly by encouraging girls to remain in school.

Dr Richard Kabanda, the Ministry of Health Commissioner for Health Promotion, called for greater involvement of young people in designing and implementing programmes aimed at reducing teenage pregnancies.

He said interventions would be difficult to sustain if young people were excluded from decisions and discussions affecting their lives.

Dr Kabanda emphasised the need to create supportive environments where adolescents can access reliable information, participate in peer-to-peer learning and develop the capacity to make informed decisions.