At 9 million, youth make up a quarter of Uganda's population. Yet life is hard for many. Poverty, HIV and AIDS, early marriage, teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence and low participation in secondary education make it difficult for young people to realise their potential. Adolescent girls in particular are at risk in several ways. The risk of HIV infection among adolescent girls is very high and unequally distributed - two-thirds of all new HIV infections are transmitted by adolescent girls. Many girls also drop out of school because they become pregnant unintentionally or marry early. According to the Ministry of Health, 25 percent of Ugandan teenagers become pregnant by age 19. Nearly half of them are married before their 18th birthday and continue to have children until their mid-40s. Complicated births and abortions, often requiring emergency obstetric care, are all too common among adolescent girls. However, many teenage mothers do not have access to adequate reproductive health care and die while trying to give life. Uganda has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 18 mothers dying every day during pregnancy or during and after childbirth. Traditional practices of child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) also persist in many communities. In 2013, Uganda ranked 16th out of 25 countries with the highest rate of child marriage. In the Pokot community in Amudat district (Karamoja), almost all girls (95 percent) were circumcised to make them more 'marriageable." Both practices are devastating to girls' physical and mental health. One of the best ways out of vulnerability, poverty, and exclusion is through education, but access to secondary education is low in Uganda. Only one-fifth of adolescents of the appropriate age attend secondary school. In addition to teenage pregnancy and child marriage, school fees and other associated costs are the main factors preventing adolescent girls from attending school. Instead of having protective and safe learning spaces, many girls face sexual harassment and rape in schools. A study on gender-based violence against children in Acholi and Karamoja in 2013 found that the majority of primary and secondary school children had experienced sexual abuse. Most were abused by a male teacher. Bullying and caning were also prevalent, despite corporal punishment being outlawed in schools.  

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