Y-CHPS: Using Peer Health Promoters to Enhance Youth Reproductive Health in Uganda

Worldwide, 45 percent of births are to women aged 15-24 (UN 2012). In Uganda, the average woman becomes sexually active at 17 and has her first child at age 20 (PMA 2017a). While premarital sex and early marriage are common, they are also stigmatized, rendering youth vulnerable to exclusion from reproductive health services. As a result, only 48% of young, unmarried sexually active girls use modern contraceptives, and only 41% of users received contraceptive counseling (PMA 2017b).