Adolescent Health Outreach — Mpondwe Primary School
Date: 2nd January 2025
Location: Mpondwe Primary School, Bwera, Kasese District, Uganda
We held a one-day outreach to the adolescents of the Bwera Muslim Community who were mobilised by a group of women called Amirats and gathered at Mpondwe Primary School, a Muslim-founded school. They invited us to talk to the adolescents about general personal hygiene, commonest mental illnesses and how to prevent them, early pregnancies and their consequences, contraception at an early age and its consequences, and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Objectives
- Increase awareness about menstruation as a natural and healthy bodily function
- Educate girls on proper menstrual hygiene practices
- Increase HIV/AIDS awareness
- Reduce stigma and negative social norms associated with menstruation
- Increase awareness of commonest mental health illnesses — particularly depression, anxiety, stress, alcohol and substance abuse
Outcomes
- 73 adolescents were reached — 46 girls and 27 boys, ranging between 8–23 years of age
- Adolescents were educated on proper personal hygiene practices, HIV/AIDS, dangers of early use of contraceptives, early pregnancies and their consequences, and commonest mental illnesses and their prevention
- We also encouraged the adolescents about staying in and finishing school
Challenges
No challenges were encountered during this activity.
Conclusion
The children were evidently interested in the information being shared, as evidenced by the attention paid and the number of questions asked at the end of the presentation. There is a need to extend this same service to other religious groups and learning institutions.