By Mercy Agumenaitwe,
REGIONAL
Bwera Division Police in Kasese District is holding a 17-year-old teenage mother suspected to have strangled her new born baby boy.
The suspect is Edrine Masika, a senior four student at Hillside Senior Secondary school in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha town council, Bwera Division, Kasese district.
She allegedly committed the stressful incident after giving birth on Wednesday morning.
A November 2021 report by AMEA Foundation indicated an increase in teenage pregnancies in Kasese district due to effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
“Kasese district in Uganda is currently leading in teenage pregnancy at 33% among the districts of the Rwenzori sub-region,” AMEA Foundation reported
Teenage pregnancy cases in Kasese district are high in areas of Maliba, Bwesungu, Bugoye and Nyamatungu in Mukunyu.
Another report by NeFCoRD showed that Kasese district registered 1,005 cases of teenage pregnancy and early marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local authorities attribute the increasing cases of teenage pregnancy and early marriages to alleged poor parenting and hesitant parents who look at girl-children as source of wealth as the major cause of the vice.
