Our Visit to Adjumani Refugee Settlements was Very Revealing

We had many activities during the month of May 2023 as Team CONSCOV. The most engaging for me, however, was our visit to Adjumani District to conduct research on how COVID-19 impacted the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and youth in refugee settlements.

Adjumani hosts the highest number of refugees in Uganda, more than 210,000 as of June 30, 2023. These are mainly from South Sudan. It also has a total of 19 refugee settlements.

Led by Dr. Agatha Alidri, the CONSCOV Principal Investigator, one of the people the team met is Mr. Titus Jogo, the Adjumani Refugee Desk Officer in the Office of the Prime Minister. Mr. Jogo is very popular among the refugees to the extent that some of them have named their children after him.

Mr. Jogo during a discussion with CONSCOV researchers

Dr. Alidri briefed Mr. Jogo that the team was in the district to hear from the refugees and get their perspective on what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Dr. Agatha Alidri (2nd right) during a discussion with Mr. Jogo

Mr. Jogo informed the team that indeed many young refugees had negatively been impacted by the pandemic. He welcomed the team to do research on the refugees in order to help inform policy.

He gave a brief on some of the complexities in handling refugees. He said many women cross the border, back to Sudan, to get pregnant, and give birth to more children. They take this as compensation for those people dying during the war.

Our research took us through several camps where we listened to extremely touching stories about the impact of the pandemic on the refugee population.

A refugee girl makes a presentation on the impact of COVID-19

Many girls and boys dropped out of school due to the pandemic. And for those who returned to school, the performance was worse than it was before COVID-19.

Pregnancy and, early and forced marriages, were among the issues leading to girls dropping out. Many lacked food to eat in the settlements as the food rations were reduced. This would force girls and boys to look for alternative ways to live, including getting themselves older partners.

Refugee children during a discussion with CONSCOV researchers in Pagirinya refugee settlement

There is a lot that we saw. There is a lot that we heard. When we returned to Gulu, I sat and reflected on the life of a refugee. It appeared like a privilege for one to be living in their home country. I hope that when our report comes out, with all the details, it will be able to lead to some change, especially on the sexual and reproductive health of the refugee children.

All photos by William Odinga B.