Young people's sexual reproductive health in Uganda

Scientific Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Health Science, grade: Merit, London School of Economics (Social Policy), course: Msc Development Studies, language: English, abstract: In the next decades, Uganda is expected to have the highest population growth in the world, as already observed with a population increase of 10,7 million people between the two national censuses of 2012 and 2014. As of January 2016, the population of Uganda was estimated to have increased by 3.58%. Uganda possesses a large rural population, which has a high unmet need for contraception. Indeed, Uganda has high Total Fertility Rates (TFRs), reaching 6,2 in 2011 according to UDHS 2011, which puts pressure on the reproductive health services. Although since 2000 Uganda has been implementing a Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) to health sector coordination and support, its population still needs to resolve urgent Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) issues.

This report will look at the SRH of young people who are defined as those between the age of 15-24; this age bracket also covers the crucial adolescent age bracket of 15-19 years. This report begins with an introduction which gives a background on the state of Uganda and the sprouting of its health system. These two factors have a direct and an imminent impact on the state of SRH, its policy, achievements and challenges. This report will further describe the main data sources and its collection. It will then focus on four areas of young people's SRH notably contraception and fertility, maternal health, abortion and HIV/AIDS. Each field consists of trends and patterns, programmes, policies and challenges. Finally, the conclusion will describe the future of SRH in Uganda.