BUBANZA August 31st (ABP) – Young people are urged to attend youth-friendly health centers and community animators for more information on reproductive health. This was said on Tuesday August 27, 2019, in Musigati commune of Bubanza province (northwestern Burundi), during the sensitization session on the prevention of gender-based violence and unwanted pregnancies, early marriage and the promotion of dialogue between parents and children. It was organized by the Initiative for the Promotion of Health and Development (IPROSARUDE), in its project “Menya umenyeshe”.
According to one of the heads of the health centers, friends of young people, of the Musigati commune, the frequency of the young people is very low at the health center which she leads because less than 20 young people are received there in one week. This means that young people have little information about reproductive health, which is one of the causes of unwanted pregnancies, she said.
That head of health center also states that this health center hosted, within two months, more than 10 girls, mostly primary school students, with unwanted pregnancies. During the 2018-2019 school year, ten girls from the Nyamugerera Communal Technical School in Musigati commune and three from the Musigati communal high school were pregnant.
As for sexual violence, one of the community animators of Shari I village in Bubanza commune said that she has already recorded seven cases of sexual violence, during the month of August, the victims being girls under 10 years old. Three alleged perpetrators are already brought to justice, she said.
Thus, the representatives of the NGO “IPROSARUDE”, in its project “Menya umenyeshe”, the administrative officials, community animators and health officers in Bubanza province call on young people to attend health centers, friends of young people, and to conduct dialogues with their parents for more information on reproductive health. They also ask them to avoid anything that leads to fornication such as drunkenness, narcotics and the like.
