Putting Girls on Parliament’s Agenda: MPs Oriented on Maternal, Adolescent and Menstrual Health

A generation of girls at a standstill

Opening the technical sessions, Dr Richard Mugahi, Commissioner for Reproductive and Child Health at the Ministry of Health, set out the case for the RMNCAAH+N Sharpened Plan III (2025/26–2029/30), and he began with the good news: maternal mortality fell by 44% between 2016 and 2022. For adolescent girls, however, the picture has barely moved.

The numbers tell the story. About one in four young women aged 15–19 is already a mother or pregnant with her first child, a proportion that has held at roughly 24% since 2006. Access to services remains thin: only 9.4% of sexually active adolescents use contraception, and just 24% use sexual and reproductive health services. Nearly a third of adolescent girls (29%) are anaemic. Around them, stigma, provider bias, fragmented youth-friendly services, gender-based violence and poor menstrual hygiene compound the risk. With just over half of Ugandans under 18, these figures are not about a minority; they describe the country’s future.

The system meant to serve these girls is itself under strain. Only 34% of approved health posts are filled, Dr Mugahi noted, and just 7,963 of the 22,586 midwives needed from Health Centre III upwards are in post. Delivering the plan will cost an estimated UGX 7.5 trillion over five years, leaving a financing gap of about UGX 904.8 billion. His request to MPs was therefore direct: support the plan and its budget and hold its implementation to account.

Menstrual health is more than a hygiene issue

If an overstretched health system is one barrier, the cost of managing a period is another. The orientation reframed menstrual health as a matter of education, gender equality, disability inclusion, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and universal health coverage: a girl who cannot afford pads or find a clean toilet at school loses learning days, confidence and opportunity.

Anne Sizomu of UNFPA and Mugumya Keneth, NTC’s Menstrual Health Consultant, presented an NTC tax policy review of sanitary pads, supported by UNFPA Uganda, that traced duties and levies across the whole production chain.

On paper, Uganda already offers substantial relief: sanitary towels and their inputs are zero-rated for VAT, and listed local manufacturers can import qualifying inputs duty-free. In practice, plastic wrappers and cartons are still taxed, reusable-pad inputs attract textile duty and VAT, and the duty waiver requires an application to the Uganda Revenue Authority in a twice-yearly window that many small producers do not know exists.

The review urged MPs to secure URA guidance exempting pad wrapper film from the plastics excise, keep the gazette-listing window open year-round or well publicised, confirm zero-rating for reusable pads and their inputs, and watch each Finance Bill for changes that could raise prices. As one representative put it:

“From menstrual health information and affordable products to WASH facilities and supportive fiscal policies, Parliament has a critical role in creating an enabling environment for every girl, woman and menstruating person to manage their periods with dignity, safety and confidence.”

For NTC, the orientation reflects a conviction at the heart of our work: girls thrive when the systems around them work. Every midwife recruited, every pad made more affordable and every MP who champions an end to teenage pregnancy widens the path for a girl to stay healthy, stay in school and shape her own future. Empowering the girl child is how we build healthier, more equitable and more resilient communities, and Parliament is an essential partner in that work.