Background Adolescent pregnancy in Uganda declined from 31% in 2000–01 to 25% in 2006 but thereafter stalled at 25% from 2006 to 2016. This paper investigates the factors associated with the recent stall in the rate of decline of adolescent pregnancy in Uganda. Methods We used logistic regression models for 4 years (2000–01, 2006, 2011 and 2016) of data from the Uganda Demographic Health Survey to explore proximate and distal factors of adolescent pregnancy in Uganda. We carried out Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition models to explore the contributions of different factors in explaining the observed decline in adolescent pregnancy between 2001 and 2006, and the subsequent stall between 2006 and 2016. Results We found that marriage among women aged 15–19 years, and early sexual debut, were strongly associated with adolescent pregnancy. These declined substantially between 2000 and 01 and 2006, leading to a decline in adolescent pregnancy. Their decline was in turn associated with rising levels of female education and household wealth. After 2006, education levels and household wealth gains stalled, with associated stalls in the decline of marriage among women aged 15–19 years and sexual debut, and a stall in the decline of adolescent pregnancy. Conclusions The stall in the decline of adolescent pregnancies in Uganda was linked to a stall in the reduction of adolescent marriage, which in turn was associated with limited progress in female educational attainment between 2006 and 2016. We emphasize the need for a renewed focus on girl’s education and poverty reduction to reduce adolescent pregnancy in Uganda and subsequently improve health outcomes for adolescent girls.

The objective of this work was to identify the optimal drying conditions to produce better quality dried Moringa oleifera leaves with the best drying kinetics using microwave and steam blanching pre-treatments prior to hot air drying. For this purpose, the effect of microwave power, microwave time, steaming time, and air temperature on drying kinetics and quality of Moringa leaves was evaluated using the response surface methodology. In order to achieve a moisture content of 8.0% kg H2O/kg dry matter, the optimal conditions identified were a steaming time of 2.58 min (2 min 35 sec) prior to air drying at 70°C and a microwave power of 270 W for 3 min, followed by air drying at 70°C. At this optimal condition, a confirmation test for steam-assisted air drying gave a drying time (DT) of 53 min, ascorbic acid (AA) of 2.49 mg/g, and the antioxidant activity (AOA) of 67.244% inhibition. For microwave-assisted air drying, the confirmation experiment gave a DT of 43 min, AA of 2.699 mg/g, and AOA of 74.46% inhibition. Both pre-treatments before air drying followed a falling rate drying period at the initial stages and later a constant rate drying period. Our results showed that microwave blanching should be considered as a pre-treatment in industrial production of Moringa leaves to produce better quality dried products in a relatively short time.

Background: The Uganda Vision 2040 underpins socioeconomic factors such as the country’s rapid population growth, a young population structure and a small proportion of the working population as major threats to Uganda’s aspiration of achieving socio-economic development. In order to position the country on a path for socioeconomic development, the National Population Policy emphasises the need for the population to adopt an urban character. This paper seeks to establish the influence of urbanisation on the socio-economic factors for harnessing the demographic dividend in Uganda exploring the urban/rural differentials, through an exploratory analysis of data from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey. Methods: Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regressions were used to determine the influence of urbanization on the explanatory variables which contribute to change in fertility. The significant variables (p<0.05) at the bivariate level were included in the two fit logistic regression models. The first model (model 1) shows the association between total children ever born and the explanatory factors in rural areas. The second model (model 2) adjusts for the enabling factors to the first model for women in urban areas. Results: Women living in urban areas, with above secondary level education (OR 3.1: CI 2.5-3.8), whose age at first sex was within the legally accepted age range of 18-49 (OR 3.0: CI 2.4-3.5), and coming from wealthier households (OR 1.63: CI 1.2-2.2) have increased odds of producing less than 3 children modelled as most ideal for the attainment of the DD. Conclusion: The influence of urbanisation towards harnessing the DD is especially through women’s education levels, increased household welfare and age at first sex.