The current situation around COVID19 in Uganda 

COVID-19 has affected all activities country wide and is starkly visible with the total lock-down of the country. As has been the case in most countries across the continent, the Education Sector was the first to close down even before the total lock-down was invoked and movement of citizens have been severely curtailed with strict approvals being required from various government ministries.  All COVID-19 Responses are being coordinated through the Office of the Prime Minister, within the Secretariat of Sustainable Development Goals in Uganda. A few days after the declaration of the lock-down, the National Task Force undertook door to door food relief for the most vulnerable groups. However social media reports by Uganda’s youth pointed to  questions being raised around the criteria used to identify those in need, as the majority of those who live hand to mouth had not received the much needed food assistance. It appears that the voice of youth on pertinent issues is being dismissed, this was glaring with Government’s announcement that its first priority would be System Strengthening. This leads one to question, what kind of system strengthening eliminates the importance of healthy living for the majority population?

How are youth affected by COVID19 – HIV, SR-HR, GBV, other issues?

Youth comprise 78% of the population in Uganda, yet during this pandemic their needs have been less prioritized and in fact are being compromised.  Youth are certainly struggling with socio-economic issues being experienced, but added to this they are not able to take care of their immediate and pressing health needs. With the lock-down they are not able to access quality health and SR-HR services.  This is even more so critical for young people living with HIV who are now unable to access their ARVs. 

Many health centers have been forced to close down due to the strict embargo put in place by the Government lockdown.   As it stands, only one or two youth-friendly centers have remained open, but only in the urban centers, which means travelling insane distances to get to the centers. This hardly makes it accessible for young people living with HIV to access their vital ART therapy and treatment sessions.  Let’s not even speak about the challenging procedure required to schedule refills. It should be noted that these health centers only have the ART departments operating at this time, which means that other important SR-HR services like contraceptives, such as condoms, pills, or safe abortion services and antenatal care and the assistance of skilled maternity assistance during delivery is just not being taken care of.  This is staggering and can lead to unwanted pregnancies.  A massive problem when Uganda is already faced with a rate of 22 % teenage pregnancies.

Added to this, the management of the side effects of contraceptives among adolescents and young people who are under enrollment has become a great challenge because monitoring under lockdown has become almost impossible.

The scourge of gender based violence has jumped massively and the impact that it has had on the physical and mental health of young people, especially adolescent girls and young women with HIV cannot be overstated. During this time they have been unable to access their social support groups due to movement restrictions which will both in the short and medium term have serious impacts on their well-being and lead to under-performance in all aspects of their life.

Significant gaps in the Covid-19 Response for Uganda’s youth

As with many of the critically under-funded, under-resourced and stretched healthcare systems across Africa, Uganda is no different.  We have seen absolutely no youth-led and youth focused organizations represented on the National Task Force in Response to COVID-19. On 23 April 2020, the United Nations in Uganda launched an emergency appeal to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Targeting 12.8m Million people, key priorities in the report highlighted included:  Health, Food Security, Nutrition, Livelihoods and Refugee Protection. Of interest is that youth-led socio-economic interventions was highlighted as one of the UN key priority interventions in the COVID-19 response. Yet, out of the 11 NGOs presented No youth representation was observed.   

Uganda’s youth population is concerned, there is a sizable gap between the current SR-HR services, like contraceptives that are normally delivered, against what is available now. In fact with most young people at home and looking at ways to keep themselves occupied, contraceptives are needed now more than ever.  Additionally, Maternal Health Services must be prioritized. Child bearing costs have skyrocketed and become almost unaffordable. A lack of these services could also lead to an unnecessary increase in infant and expectant mothers turning to traditional birth attendants, which in itself could have unexpected consequences. HIV ART therapies and treatments are also just not accessible due to the long distances young people have to travel and it is not being prioritized over the virus response.  This is especially harsh for the young people on treatment. And we suspect that this will certainly cause harm to not only the short but long term well-being and health of these adolescents and young girls.