Young people have a big say.

With financial support form AmplifyChange, this December 2019, NCD conducted a youth camp in Lyantonde to provide young people aged 14- 24 years with SRHR information and services. This was an exciting as well as a major learning opportunity for us. While young people took SRHR services and attended various information sharing sessions, there was more to learn for me and the NCD team.

As we focus on providing information and services to young people aged 14- 24 years, we need to take a closer look at HIV positive young people who have more special needs than the general needs of young people. I had an opportunity to interact with “Linda” not real name, a 16 year young person living with HIV, whose sibling is HIV positive as well.  As we discussed various strategies to help young people prevent early pregnancies and make informed decisions about their sexuality, Linda noted that sometimes young people have no options but to engage in risky sexual behaviours for survival.

I had a one on one discussion with Linda and I had more to learn and rethink about our programming. Linda narrated that she stays with her grandmother and siblings and the hope of completing school is minimal. She noted that every time we talk about reproductive health needs of young people, we forget young people living with HIV have more needs. Linda noted that if she fails to get resources to complete school, the next option with be marriage. She emphasized how young people living with HIV have immense SRHR needs, coupled with limited access to finances and stigma from fellow young people making it harder to live with HIV.

As we were ending our discussion, Linda tasked me to support young people like her complete school as this will help address the challenges of child marraiges, teenage pregnancies and all the negative effects of poor SRHR decisions. While the number of young people living with HIV may be minimal they need education and economic support to enable them make informed SRH decisions. In 2020, NCD will try to mobilize resources to support at least 5 young people lining with HIV  continue with school and complete schools.

For more information, contact admin@ncduganda.org