Over 400 youth were last week beneficiaries of free testing and treatment during medical camps in Gulu City organised by researchers at Gulu University.
The camps were, alongside being used by the researchers for gathering information, aimed at bringing reproductive health services closer to the youth, especially the less privileged ones, who mainly live in slums and on the streets of Gulu City.
The university has since April 2022 been implementing a research project known as CONSCOV – Consequences of COVID-19 on Youth Reproductive Health – to establish the impact of COVID-19 on the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and youth in northern Uganda. This research is being done in Gulu City and Adjumani district. The outreaches were conducted under this project, in the areas of Olailong, Pece and Kanyogoga.
CONSCOV is implemented by Gulu University in partnership with the University of Copenhagen, Gulu Regional Referral Hospital and Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU).
The services offered during the camps included testing for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, malaria, as well as cervical cancer screening.
Anxious youth line up in Vanguard village, Pece division, to have their blood samples taken and tested for various infections
“Over 98 percent of the youth and adolescents we served belong to the category we refer to as the socially excluded,” said Patrick Ocien, a CONSCOV research assistant and one of the organisers of the medical camps. “We served 103 young people at Olailong, 176 at Pece and 141 at Kanyogoga.”
On May 3, 2023, the research team converged at BSU to assess the outcomes of the outreaches. They noted the need for more manpower and supplies due to the big number of youth turning up for free sexual and reproductive health services.
“We are reaching out to the unreachable, the vulnerable. Let us continue to work together as a team,” said Assoc. Prof Charles Okumu, one of the researchers.
Dr. Agatha Alidri, the Principal Investigator of the Project, warned team members against acts of corruption.
“We at the university are not technical in this area. That is why we have to rely on RHU and Gulu Referral Hospital. When something [medical supplies] is for a purpose let us not tamper with it. We emphasise straightness,” she said.
