Several girls in Sop Sop Sub-county, Tororo District, are trading school uniforms for motherhood. Instead of sitting in classrooms, some are carrying babies or preparing to give birth, raising fears among local leaders that teenage pregnancy is robbing a generation of its future.
The contrast within Tororo District is striking. While the district’s teenage pregnancy rate stands at 22%, slightly below the national average of 24%, the rate in Sop Sop Sub-county is 47%, according to district figures. The East Central region, meanwhile, has a prevalence of 31.6%, the highest among Uganda’s sub-regions.
Tororo’s overall rate has also risen sharply, nearly doubling from 10% five years ago to 22% today. Health officials say the increase has made coordinated action urgent and prompted the district to launch the End Teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriage Awareness Campaign 2026.
The figures have prompted renewed calls from local leaders, health workers and youth advocates for stronger community interventions, better access to reproductive health information and services, and more support for adolescents who are already sexually active. When Moses Owor became LC III chairperson of Sop Sop Sub-county just over a month ago, one thing quickly caught his attention: the number of teenagers he saw in villages during school hours. Many were visibly pregnant.
Owor began visiting schools across the sub-county to find out why so many students were missing classes. What he found, he says, pointed to a problem that goes beyond teenage girls. “Some of these children are pregnant and have dropped out of school. Others have already given birth,” Owor said.
He also found that teenage pregnancy was affecting boys. Some boys had dropped out of school or left their homes after impregnating girls, disrupting their education and exposing them to legal and social consequences.
Youth advocates say the high pregnancy rate is being driven by several factors, including poverty, gender-based violence, limited access to sexual and reproductive health information and entrenched cultural practices.
Eric Okello, executive director of TDYAN Youth Voices and Action Network Uganda, says Sop Sop is not alone. Several rural sub-counties in Tororo continue to report high teenage pregnancy rates, although some communities are beginning to see improvements after introducing local by-laws. Poverty, he says, is one of the biggest drivers.
Some girls, unable to meet basic needs, become vulnerable to transactional sex, while gender-based violence further increases their risk of unintended pregnancy. Okello also points to traditional night funeral fundraising events, locally known as “Mapotho Gichiki,” where young people may spend the night with limited supervision.
While abstinence remains an important prevention message, Okello says it cannot be the only response.
Some adolescents are already sexually active, he says, and need accurate information and access to sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, to prevent unintended pregnancies.
Health rights advocates are therefore engaging Tororo District leaders on policies that would allow sexually active adolescents and teenage mothers to access family planning services without stigma or discrimination.
The proposed approach would include adolescent-friendly health facilities where young people can obtain confidential reproductive health information and services.
Breaking the cycle
Health officials acknowledge that teenage pregnancy remains one of Tororo District’s most pressing health and development challenges.
Sr. Connie Bwire, assistant district health officer for Tororo, says the district has intensified community sensitisation through the End Teenage Pregnancy Campaign 2026. The campaign targets adolescents, parents, teachers and community leaders, focusing on the consequences of early pregnancy and ways to prevent it.
The district has also introduced parenting programmes aimed at helping parents communicate more openly with their children about sexuality and reproductive health. But officials say information alone will not be enough.
Sub-counties are being encouraged to introduce by-laws and ordinances aimed at protecting adolescents from practices that expose them to sexual exploitation. Bwire points to Petta Sub-county as an example where a by-law was introduced with the help of IPAS. Local leaders introduced regulations requiring funeral fundraising activities to take place during the day rather than at night.
According to Bwire, the change reduced opportunities for risky behaviour among young people and contributed to a decline in teenage pregnancy. Okello believes the approach could be replicated in Sop Sop.
He says the by-laws can do more than regulate community gatherings. They can also help protect girls from violence and discrimination when they seek reproductive health services, including contraception.
A problem bigger than pregnancy
For Owor, the most worrying consequence is the number of girls losing their education. Teenage mothers face the challenge of caring for a child while trying to rebuild their lives. Some never return to school.
The pregnancy also affects boys who become fathers while still in school, creating another pathway out of education. Local leaders say reversing the trend will require more than telling adolescents to abstain.
They want communities to tackle poverty, keep children in school, strengthen parental responsibility, enforce laws that protect adolescents and make reproductive health services more accessible and acceptable to young people.
For Sop Sop, the 47% figure is more than a statistic. It is reflected in the girls missing from classrooms, the young mothers carrying babies and the boys whose education has also been disrupted.
The challenge now is whether the community can turn its growing concern into action before another generation leaves school for parenthood.
