Zoe Girls Health Initiative (ZGHI) is lately making significant strides in empowering girls aged 11-19 in Busoga, Eastern Uganda, to achieve their full potential and reduce teenage pregnancies.
This initiative is pivotal in addressing the public health concern of teenage pregnancy in Uganda, where children aged 0-17 make up 50.5% of the population and youth aged 18-30 comprise 22.7%, according to the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics’ 2024 Census preliminary results.
Daphine Nayebare, a midwife, founded ZGHI, drawing inspiration from her own experience as the daughter of a teenage mother.
“Despite many challenges, my mother was determined to provide for me and ensure I received an education,” Nayebare recalls.
Nayebare recognized the urgent need for a collective effort involving the Health Ministry and all community stakeholders to tackle this issue.
As of February 2024, Uganda’s national teenage pregnancy rate was 24%. A 2022 UNFPA report revealed that Uganda recorded 290,219 teenage pregnancies from January to September 2021, averaging 32,000 monthly.
Nayebare’s Zoe initiative, founded during the COVID-19 pandemic, aims to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity by raising awareness about the dangers of teenage pregnancy and supporting pregnant teenagers through childbirth.
ZGHI operates in various communities within Jinja City including Bugembe, Budhumbuli, Wairaka, Wanyange, Wakittaka, Buwekula, and Nakabango.
“We do not support teenage pregnancy but believe that pregnant teenagers should be supported to ensure they deliver healthy babies,” Nayebare explains.
The initiative has since implemented projects like psychosocial rehabilitation, vocational training, school campaigns against teenage pregnancy, a back-to-school project, and a digital literacy scholarship project.
“In our school campaigns over the past three years, we have reached over 1739 girls and 900 boys with awareness campaigns. While this might seem small, we aim to reach more numbers as our resources grow,” she says.
The initiative’s Teen Mom’s Club provides antenatal follow-up, health education, and support for stress, anxiety, and social isolation.
Despite these successes, Nayebare notes that funding limitations hinder further progress and calls on other stakeholders to support her efforts.
ZGHI is organizing an Adolescents’ Reproductive Health Garage on August 24, targeting over 250 adolescents and seeking sponsors to make this workshop possible.
Teenage pregnancies contribute 17.2% to Uganda’s maternal mortality ratio, which stands at 336 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the UNFPA 2021 report. Nayebare’s work through ZGHI represents a crucial step towards reducing these figures and empowering young mothers in Uganda.