Ī multitude of factors contribute to these SRHR problems among young people in Uganda. Most recently, the Ugandan government banned comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in 2016, and released new guidelines on sexuality education which focused on abstinence. Moreover, 50% of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 years have experienced intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. Young women aged 15-24 years are 2.5 times more likely to be affected by HIV (5%) than men of the same age (2%). Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, are also common. While knowledge of contraceptive methods is nearly universal in Uganda, 28% of currently married women and 32% of sexually active unmarried women have an unmet need for contraception. Twenty-five percent (25%) of women aged 15-19 years have begun childbearing. Despite improved political will to address sexuality education in school, resistance persists from selected conservative religious and cultural leaders. Although Uganda’s National Health Policy specifically addresses sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of youth and a National Adolescent Health Policy is available, young people’s SRHR need more investment. Uganda is the most youthful country in East Africa: over half (55%) of the population is below the age of 18 and 35% of the population comprises 10-24 years olds. Young women’s choices and voice can be further constrained depending on their race, class or other identities. Moreover, young people face barriers in being involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes by governments and development partners. As a result, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortion, maternal death and disability, and gender-based violence – including child marriage – are major problems that young people face, particularly young women, in sub-Saharan Africa. For example girls and young women, might not be able to make voluntary and informed choices on when or with whom to have sex, start a relationship or marry and on contraceptive use. It is noteworthy and urgent to recognize that for young women in particular, empowerment, and the right to exercise their voice and choice, is limited. However, this support is often constrained by conservative norms around young women’s and men’s sexuality and unequal power relations between adults and young people, men and women, and people with different intersecting social backgrounds and contexts. To expand young people’s voice and choice concerning sex and relationships, a supportive environment is needed: in terms of access to comprehensive SRHR information and services, supporting families and wider communities, and (national level) laws and policies. It is about young people’s “capacity for purposive action, the ability to pursue goals, express voice and influence and make decisions free from violence and retribution”. Young people’s empowerment can be defined as “the expansion of choice and the strengthening of voice through the transformation of power relations”. Strengthening young people’s empowerment has been widely recognized as an important strategy in attaining their SRHR. At the same time, the agenda of ensuring SRHR of young people as part of the ICPD Programme of Action remains unfinished. Since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, progress has been made in improving sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including for young people (10-24 years). The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
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