Mitigating adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes through a comprehensive primary school sexuality education program in South-Western Uganda

Uganda’s adolescents experience unfavourable sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes. Young people (10-24 years) constitute over 33.5% of Uganda’s population, with about 47% below the age of 15. Nevertheless, this age group carries the highest disease burden, particularly in the SRH area. To address this problem, ICRH in collaboration with Mbarara University (Uganda), Martyrs University (Uganda), and the Free University of Brussels (Belgium), developed a research project to mitigate adverse SRH problems. In this project, the researchers will develop a comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programme, based on existing initiatives, targeting young adolescents in primary schools in South-Western Uganda. The programme will be delivered using a university student outreach programme. It is innovative for two reasons. Firstly, it focusses on young adolescents: even though the stage of early adolescence is one of the most crucial phases of human development, it is often overlooked in SRH research. Secondly, the project pays specific attention to the process of development and implementation of a comprehensive SRH program. While effectiveness studies have been done on this topic, good process and implementation research is rare. Nevertheless, it is crucial for the advancement of the study field. The project started in Spring 2015 and was funded by the Flemish Interuniversity Council – University Development Cooperation (VLIR-UOS).