Charles Jjuuko
6 May 2008
Kampala — CHILDREN in Kayunga district become sexually active as early as eight years of age, the district director of health services has said.
Dr. Edris Musisi noted that because of poverty, many parents force their young daughters into illegal unions with older men with the hope that the men would provide them with basic needs in life and other luxuries which they (parents) cannot afford.
The health services chief was last week speaking during the annual AIDS partnership forum workshop at the district headquarters in Ntenjeru,
He urged parents to educate the children on the dangers of premarital sex.
According to Musisi, a recent study conducted by the health department indicated that 39% of children below 17 years in the district had had sex while 52% of married had sex with non-regular partners
"Only 6% of married people are faithful to their partners and 42% of married women had sex outside marriage," Musisi added.
"This has made the AIDS prevalence to increase to 6.5% of the population and this means 21,270 people live with HIV/AIDS."
Kayunga, he pointed out, has 25,000 AIDS orphans while the number of widows is about 6,000.
The resident district commissioner, Margaret Baryehuki, who closed the seminar, advised parents to instill moral values in their children.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
