Uganda Youth and Adolescent Health Forum (UYAHF) in partnership with Rakai Health Service Program (RHSP) with support from the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted Inception meetings with district stakeholders in the districts of Lwengo and Lyantonde in Masaka sub-region from Tuesday 26th to Wednesday 27th July 2022 in preparation for the Every Hour Matters (EHM) campaign youth engagement toolkit training
The inception meetings aimed at introducing the EHM campaign to the district officials and work out a plan and identify dates with other CDC partners in the subregion on how to roll out the youth engagement toolkit training for youth champions and gatekeepers.
The meeting was attended by 28 district officials (14 from each district) including the Chief Administrative Officers, District Health Officers, Probation Officer, Resident District Commissioners, and Religious leaders among others.
During the meetings, Emmanuel Kato an officer working with RHSP, highlighted while referring to available data on SGBV for the 2 (two) districts that even though high numbers of cases of SGBV exist, there are low numbers recorded for the demand and uptake of post-rape care services irrespective of the fact that the services exist and are available.
Leah Oketcho mentioned in her remarks that it is against this background that the EHM campaign has come on board to create awareness and build demand for timely post-rape care services including the uptake of PEP within 72 (seventy-two) hours to prevent HIV infection and emergency contraceptives to prevent pregnancy within 120 (one hundred twenty) hours in cases of rape or defilement.
The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for Lwengo district, George Ntulume, expressed excitement about the campaign noting that the districts receive at least 3 reported cases on a weekly basis.
“As a district, we are thin on ground in terms of budget and human resource and as such we are happy to have partners consistently offering support to support our young people,” he added
Dr. Moses Nkanika, District Health Officer, Lyantonde district highlighted during the meeting that unfortunately a lot of time is lost between the health facility and police when it comes to handling rape survivors in the community.
According to Leah Okecho, the EHM project lead, the training will involve building the capacity of the youth champions and gatekeepers on the youth engagement toolkit which they will later roll out in their respective communities
At the close of the meeting, the leaders from both districts pledged to fully support the rollout of the campaign in their respective districts.