THE IMPACT OF COVID -19
forced many citizens to resort to home
self-medication and local remedies from
herbs. This exerted a greater burden on
women given their role as the primary
care givers within households. Many
women were pushed to forego their daily
income generating activities as they now
had to attend to the sick at home.
The initial bans on public and private
transport resulted in movement
restrictions and people with urgent
health needs were not able to access
health services. This increased the risk
of preventable deaths and suffering.
Transport bans also hindered women’s
and girls’ access to sexual and
reproductive health services, maternal
health care, menstrual hygiene products,
contraceptives; and hindered access to
emergency healthcare and support when
they suffered gender-based violence.
Failure of women and other vulnerable
groups to access timely transport
services did in some cases result in
preventable deaths.
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Gendered impact on girls.
National consultative dialogues, surveys
and other reports reveal an increase
in teenage pregnancies and sexual
reproductive rights-related challenges
for adolescent girls as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda. With
schools on lock down, girls were
exposed to ‘predators’ and sex offenders.
According to police reports, 4,442 cases
of defilement were reported between
January and April 2020. Likewise, the
Sauti, an online platform by the Uganda
Adolescent Health Forum reported 800
cases of sexual abuse between January
and May 2020.
Research on the Influence of International Financial Institutions
on Uganda’s COVID – 19 Recovery Agenda