Secondary schoolgirls in Soroti city, eastern Uganda, are reportedly engaging in commercial sex for as little as Shs 1,000, a trend community leaders say is deepening the region’s already alarming HIV/Aids crisis.
According to the 2024 Uganda AIDS Commission prevalence report, Soroti’s HIV prevalence now stands at 12.5 per cent, making it the second-highest in the country after Fort Portal (13.5 per cent), and more than double the national average of 5.1 per cent.
Speaking at the Soroti secondary school annual general meeting on Saturday, Sheikh Obilan Abubakar Umar, Regional Assistant Mufti (RAM) for Teso-Karamoja, said authorities have identified at least 120 “hot spots” linked to commercial sex in the city, including locations where schoolgirls are allegedly selling sex for Shs 1,000–2,000.
“This is very detrimental to our culture, religion, the Teso sub-region, and Uganda at large,” Sheikh Obilan said.
The cleric also castigated parents who marry off their underage daughters, denying them an education.
“I have been reliably informed of a Muslim parent with a senior two daughter who wants to marry her off and is actively searching for a man. Such parents should be reported immediately, and the law must take its course,” he warned.
He urged communities to remain vigilant against the exploitation of young girls, whether through commercial sex or forced marriage, and criticised parents who view their daughters as a source of household income.
According to Sheikh Obilan, some parents deliberately send girls to school without offering basic support, pushing them into survival behaviours that erode cultural and spiritual values. He warned that the continued neglect of children’s wellbeing fuels trauma, stress and psychological instability.
“Uganda is doomed if we have future parents who grow up without mentorship,” he said, describing the trend as a form of “parental absenteeism.”
Beyond HIV/Aids, the RAM flagged other serious health concerns in the Teso sub-region, including cervical cancer and the rising burden of sickle-cell disease. He noted that Teso now ranks second only to Lango in national sickle-cell prevalence.
“The disease is growing rapidly in Teso. We need to fight the trend fraternally,” he said.
The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council regional office, he added, is spearheading efforts against sickle cell through mass testing, counselling and promoting pre-marital screening.
Sheikh Obilan called on parents to get tested and urged that schoolgirls also undergo screening to determine their carrier status. He announced that a dedicated sickle-cell clinic will soon be established in Soroti city.
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