The CONSCOV team on December 18, 2023, visited the Gulu remand home for juveniles.
It was another unique experience as the team interacted with the young people who are kept in that home for the different crimes they committed.
Because of their age – below 18 – at which they are assumed to be unable to make reasonable judgments under certain circumstances, the law protects them from being taken to prisons where adult criminals are detained.
The team interacted with them about their sexual and reproductive health, and many of them presented their issues. It was not surprising for the team to hear that a number of the children there belong to the socially excluded youth category (street children) in Gulu City, which category CONSCOV is already engaging.
They asked for help and the CONSCOV team, which includes representatives from Gulu University (GU), Gulu Regional Referral Hospital (GRRH) and Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), pledged to organise for them a medical camp during which they will receive free sexual and reproductive health services, including testing and treatment.
The CONSCOV team is researching the impact of COVID-19 on the sexual and reproductive health of the youth and adolescents in northern Uganda. Its unique approach –through the GU, GRRH and RHU partnership – also allows it to extend reproductive health education and free medical services to vulnerable adolescents and youth in the region.
Gulu Juvenile Remand Home OC Joseph Musasizi addresses the CONSCOV team from inside the children's remand centre.
There were 173 juveniles (164 boys and nine girls) at the centre by the time of the team’s visit, and a baby of one of the girls.
Joseph Musasizi, the officer in Charge of the home, said the coming of the team was a relief to him.
“I now know where to go [GRRH’s adolescent clinic] to get immediate support towards their treatment. We shall be coming to you direct,” he told the team.
He said that having that many children in the home was mainly due to poor parenting and the effects of the [LRA] war.
“We are not in prison. We are here to transform ourselves,” he emphasised about the status of the children in the home.
Dr. Agatha Alidri, the CONSCOV project Principal Investigator (PI), said: “Our philosophy is ‘Leave no one behind.’”
Dr. Alidri stands by the gate of the centre as she waits for someone to open for her
“While we are gathering and analysing information on the impact of the pandemic on the sexual and reproductive health of the young people, we are also helping them to cope with the situation through sharing knowledge and giving them free services where we can,” she said.
“This is a unique group [the juveniles in the remand home]. We can’t leave them behind. The CONSCOV partnership will look into their issues,” she added.
