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ItemPerception of university students about abortion: the case of Makerere University(Makerere University, 2021-04) Adongo, VeronaMany young people are sexually active and it’s important to establish what their thoughts are on abortion since its illegal in Uganda. This study aimed at understanding what kind of perceptions university students at Makerere University had about abortion in terms of knowledge of costs, complications and service providers. The study also aimed to establish the major influences of these perceptions in terms of gender, year of study, costs, religion and culture. And lastly it aimed to understand the circumstances under which they thought it was acceptable or not acceptable to carry out an abortion. The study approach was qualitative in nature and data for this study was collected through in depth interviews with the study participants who were active students of Makerere University. The sample size was purposively selected from different faculties at the university to represent the whole population of study. The major findings from the study were that most university students were not fully aware of the abortion laws in Uganda and therefore they are restricted in terms of decision making in case they are in such a predicament. When it came to the costs and service providers of abortion healthcare, most of the study participants were aware of which places offer safe abortion and the most mentioned places were Marie Storpes and Reproductive Health Uganda. The costs of abortion that were mentioned ranged from 50,000 ugshs to one million ugshs depending on the method of abortion and that is pills or the use of a machine. The major influence of perception towards abortion was found to be the lack of financial resources to take care of the child which meant that irrespective of the fact that one was in first year or second year, staying at campus or not, they would consider abortion if they felt they were not financially capable of taking care of the child. Following closely to that was the influence of religion as those who swore never to carry out an abortion had this as their biggest restriction. These findings have a number of implications and these include the importance of making abortion legal as it was found that unsafe abortion were the most sought after because they are affordable. It also means that abortion laws should be widespread in the communities so that people can know when it’s safe to carry out an abortion in terms of legality.
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ItemPerceptions of university students towards the use of modern contraceptives: a case of Makerere University(Makerere University, 2021-02) Namatovu, ViolaThe issue of use of modern contraceptives has received considerable critical attention to prevent unwanted pregnancy, abortion and minimize the risk of STI transmission is particularly important. However, the prevalence of contraceptives usage among University students is found to be low in some developing countries with no exception of Uganda. However, there is hardly any study on perceptions of modern contraceptive use among university students. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of university students towards the use of modern contraceptives. A descriptive design was used for the study and a total of 171 students were randomly selected for the study from nine different colleges of Makerere University. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to understand views and perceptions of students towards the use of modern contraceptive. The results analysed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SSPS) statistics 23 for analysis showed that Makerere University students have knowledge about modern contraceptives and most had been trained about modern contraceptives mostly by health workers. In addition, the students had positive perceptions towards modern contraceptives much as most agreed that those modern contraceptives are not comfortable and they affect the quality and enjoyment of sex. The perception had no relationship with the students’ knowledge as even those who had never heard about modern contraceptives had a positive perception towards the use of modern contraceptives. The use of modern contraceptives among university students was high and the factors for the use of modern contraceptives included fear of unwanted pregnancies, not to contract STDs, fear of HIV/AIDs and lastly, because they were easy to use, affordable and comfortable. Some of the strategies to address issues around the use of modern contraceptives are providing free contraceptives, bringing modern contraceptive services providers nearer to students, conducting awareness campaigns, teaching students about modern contraceptive among others. The study recommended that the Government of Uganda under its ministry should with no exception of UBOS to conduct research to assess the possible effects of the modern contraceptives and introduce modern contraceptives with less effect as most of the respondents hope to stop using modern contraceptives in the nearby future due to their serious side effects. Further research is also needed to establish the factors that influence perception towards modern contraceptives.