Access To Sexuality Education And Sexual And Reproductive Health Services For Young People In Higher And Tertiary Institutions Of Learning In Uganda

Abstract

Uganda is among the countries with the highest rates of new HIV infections in Sub Saharan Africa where young people aged 15-24 accounts for 60% of the 83,000 new infections. University Students are particularly vulnerable to HIV infections because of the physical, psychological, social and economic attributes of their age. Several studies have indicated that University Students aged 18-24 years face many sexual and reproductive health challenges, spiritual and emotional challenges, conflicting cultural norms and practices as well as modernization challenges. While MoES developed the National Sexuality Education Framework 2018 that provides an over arching national direction for providing young people with sexuality education in the formal education setting. There are relatively few documented examples of scaled up, sustainable sexuality education and SRH services and programmes within Universities and tertiary institutions in Uganda. Similarly, there is inadequate information on the level of access to compressive sexuality education and SRH services by University students in Uganda. In view of this and because of the impact of HIV and AIDS in University populations, UNESCO undertook a Rapid situation analysis on sexuality education and access to SRH services. The overall purpose was to generate evidence on key drivers and current interventions that are impacting young people’s access to HIV/STI prevention information, sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services within Institutions of higher learning.