Kampala, 3rd September 2014:- The Minister of State for Health (Primary Health Care), Hon Sarah Opendi, has urged Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), UN Agencies and Government to unite and fight Gender Based Violence (GBV). She said this at a meeting held at Hotel African to launch the Gender Based Violence Advocacy Pack under the theme ‘Championing prevention and response to GBV”.

Hon Opendi said that Uganda loses 0.3% of it's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to GBV. She pointed out that every day, somewhere in Uganda, someone is battered, raped or acquires HIV/AIDS mainly due to GBV. According to Hon Opendi, in Uganda, 3 out of 5 women experience GBV in their lifetime. She further noted that education is important because educating children especially the girl child is crucial in the fight against GBV. She also stressed the need for strengthening family planning in Uganda as the population pressure fuels GBV.

Ms. Maggie Kyomukama, Assistant Commissioner in Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development who represented the Minister highlighted the importance of equipping the young people with survival skills that are important in tackling GBV. She pointed out that poverty and unemployment exposes young women and children to rape and defilement which are often covered up in exchange for monetary rewards.

In his remarks, Dr. Solomon Fisseha who represented the World Health Organization Country Representative said that GBV is recognized as a public health problem of epidemic proportions and has serious consequences for women’s physical reproductive and mental health.The Uganda Demographic health Survey of 2006 indicated that more than half of Ugandan men and women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15 years.

Dr Fisseha however noted that women are more likely, to have experienced physical violence than men (60% of women compared to 53% of men) and for women, GBV is often perpetuated by intimate partners such as husbands or boyfriends.

He said that at country level, WHO has been working very closely with government, policy makers, religious leaders, health training institutions, parliamentarians and NGOs/Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), to prioritize GBV at the highest levels and in communities.

Finally Dr Fisseha urged the government to fully implement the recommendation of the WHO resolution on strengthening the role of the health systems in addressing violence, in particular against women, girls and children, that was adopted by the Member States at the 67th World Health Assembly. The resolution calls on Member States to strengthen advocacy and evidence-building for prevention interventions for survivors of GBV

Giving an update on GBV in Uganda, Dr Olive Sentumbwe-Mugisa from WHO and Dr. Miriam Namugere from the Ministry of Health reported that in Uganda, GBV is highest in the Eastern part of the country and this is mainly due to poverty, lack of education and alsocultural norms that deem it normal for women to be beaten by their spouses. GBV was also reported high in rural areas, in Pentecostals (Balokole) believers and among the Itesots. 

Another study that was carried out in Mulago hospital showed that women who experienced GBV were more likely to have low birth-weight children than those that didn’t experience GBV. Furthermore, studies revealed that women who experienced GBV are more likely to develop obstetric complications, hypertension, anaemia and premature rapture of membranes. Children from violence-prone households were reported to experience behavioural and mental disorders as well.

Justice Batema Akiiki, Resident Judge Fortportal, and a Gender Scholar at Makerere University, who chaired one of the sessions, highlighted the role of the media and security organs such as the police in the prevention and redress of GBV.  He added that the media commands a large audience and as such they need to be sensitized about GBV and the appropriate messages to disseminate.

He also said that the Anti-GBV network would provide an opportunity for dialogue stakeholders and therefore strengthen the engagement process on this issue  in the country.

 The meeting brought together UN Agency heads, Academia, the Police Force, the media, and Civil Society Organizations .