Uganda – “We’ve been told that our clinics bear peace – the clinic and what is offered in it,” said Demeter Margaret Namuyobo. She is the Medical Coordinator at Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), where we present a safe space for women and young people in Uganda, to access sexual reproductive health services and information (SRHI).
Over the past 65 years, millions of marginalized and underserved people have entered Uganda, including internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, young people, and migrants fleeing economic and political instability in Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, and Rwanda.
New Patient care Centres in all 19 static RHU clinics and a toll-free line (0800299003), assist new arrivals in gaining access to SRHI services and information, as well as addressing urgent needs such as protection, shelter, food, and counseling.
Amid the noise, crowds, and queues at community outreaches and the static clinics, there is a door marked with the words
“This is the RHU safe space” – a place where young people and survivors of gender-based violence can come for guidance, care, and referrals to local networks of public services as well as resources on sexual and reproductive health.
“The people who come here have SRHI issues that require urgent attention, in most cases privately. They don’t understand most of the dialects spoken in Uganda, they haven’t eaten properly for a while, they hitchhiked – they are anxious and distressed,”. Namuyobo explained.
New arrivals, particularly women and young people, are welcomed into the safe space at the end of often long and difficult journeys.
While comprehensive data are unavailable, research and news reports have indicated women and young people face threats of gender-based violence and a lack of SRHI as they seek out better lives in the country.
To address these rights violations, RHU maintains 19 safe spaces across the country and the toll-free line (0800299003), where staff offer SRHI and work to identify instances of gender-based violence, offer case-management support, and refer survivors to corresponding public services. Teams also work with survivors to access health services, build safety plans, and monitor cases until resolution.
“RHU’s toll-free line and humanitarian response in Uganda is important to guarantee the health rights of marginalized and underserved people, especially young people, women, and girls,” said Tom Kulumba, who heads the RHU Gender and Youth department in Uganda.
In addition to sexual and reproductive health advice and gender-based violence support, each space accommodates breastfeeding mothers, and infant beds and provides free condoms and educational videos and games. Everyone is welcome, and the door is always open.
“Hundreds of vulnerable and underserved people have benefited from calling the RHU toll-free line,” Talent Emily, RHU toll-free line officer said. She contends that the callers are interested in family planning, infertility management, HIV, location of RU clinics, making appointments, and sexually transmitted infections (STI) management.
For some, this makes all the difference. “During an appointment, one woman mentioned her desire to use family planning,” Demeter Namuyobo recalled. “She put both hands on the table and said, ‘You are the first person so far who has looked at me, so I felt safe to open up – I think this is what sets us apart.”
As Ugandans face ongoing threats to their SRHI safety in some places – from a lack of essentials such as spaces, toll free lines, and medicine to political and socioeconomic crisis – RHU will continue its critical work of providing marginalized and vulnerable persons in their diversity a safe place to rest and recover.
The author Aldon Walukamba is a Media Advocacy and Documentation Coordinator at Reproductive Health Uganda
