29 March 2016

Devise HIV control for teenage girls



The red flag raised by Gulu Resident High Court Judge Margaret Mutonyi over the rising cases of girls being defiled by HIV-positive men presents serious new concerns today. Justice Mutonyi last week said she is currently presiding over more than 40 capital offence cases at the Gulu High Court circuit. Out of these, 21 are aggravated and three rape cases. The High Court justice said at least 10 suspects, including a woman, who were tested for HIV turned out to be positive. The judge said the suspects who are abusing the unsuspecting girls do so deliberately.






In the last one year alone, Gulu High Court has tried more than 300 men facing aggravated defilement charges involving children. This is a very worrying trend given the previous window of hope that had been realised in Uganda through the reversal of the infection trend in the country. According to 2013 Uganda HIV and Aids Country Progress report, it indicates a decline in Aids-related deaths between 2011 and 2013; from 72,928 in 2011, 70,262 in 2012, and 61,298 in 2013.
This downward trend then is now going to escalate due to wanton behaviour by some HIV-positive men which is going to complicate the already bad situation. However, part of this malaise boils down to the hard economic times where unemployment among the youth, more so girls, is incredibly high compelling some teenage girls to fall for material possessions which, unfortunately, have come with a cost.






Therefore, there should also be mitigating factors for the teenage girls to help them avoid such scenarios. During the court session, Justice Mutonyi sentenced a 38-year-old HIV-positive farmer to a 20-year jail term for defiling a mentally retarded girl. Now, it is not only that this demented man defiled, but also did the macabre thing to a mentally retarded girl. This is adding injury to injustice. Uganda has laws that punish offenders of this nature and they should be punished indeed.
And as the judge puts it, long custodial jail term should serve as a deterrent to other people who want to commit such acts in future. The warning by the judge to teenage girls against engaging in sexual relationship, saying it will put them at a risk of contracting HIV does not therefore come at a better time.






0 comments:

Post a Comment

Theme Support

Popular Posts

Recent Posts

Unordered List

Text Widget

Blog Archive

Powered by Blogger.