23,000 teenagers impregnated in 2021

The figures were revealed on Thursday 17th February 2022 in a meeting bringing together different leaders from Eastern Province to discuss issues affecting the society.

Pointed out issues include premature pregnancies, malnutrition among children, violence against women and men among others.

The Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Prof. Bayisenge Jeannette disclosed that 23,000 teens were impregnated last year.

“In 2019, we registered more than 23,000 teens with premature pregnancies. The number reduced to 19,000 in 2020 and rose again to 23,000 in 2021. The figures are almost equivalent to the population of a sector,” she said.

The Minister highlighted that it is shameful to see such number of premature pregnancies yet the teen-mothers should be pursuing studies.

The Eastern Province is reported to have the biggest number with 9188 teen mothers.

Of these, 128 teen mothers were aged below 15 while 2043 were aged below 17.

The three districts on top with teen-mothers in 2021 include Nyagatare with 1799, Gatsibo with 1574 and Kirehe with 1365.

Prof. Bayisenge has urged leaders to intensify efforts in countering defilement cases to reduce the numbers.

In a bid to seek solution, Minister Bayisenge has said that the Government mulled releasing the list of people accused of defilement where the identifications of people who impregnated teens were made public effective last year.

“In collaboration with the Prosecution last year, we launched an online platform where identifications of people convicted of defilement are published to discourage people from committing the crime affecting the society. These people’s identifications are published along with details of committed crimes. Today, the platform features the list of more than 320 people. Let us disclose their identifications and renounce their acts to completely shun the crime,” she said.

The Governor of Eastern Province, Emmanuel Gasana has said that there are different programs designed to fight against defilement like an electronic information room that will be available at province, district and sector level to expedite the sharing of information of suspects.

He also stressed the need to conduct research to establish major causes of defilement.