Changing In-Fertilities in Uganda: governing reproductive health and belonging (CIFU)

project summary

How people imagine and manage fertility is changing in Uganda. While the country still has one of the world’s highest fertility rates, innovations—from rising infertility, contraceptive self-care apps and over-the-counter abortion pills to IVF clinics and surrogacy—transform how reproduction is practiced and imagined. Families, health workers and policymakers face dilemmas where contraception, abortion, fostering, and new fertility treatments reshape what it means to belong to kin, community, and nation. CIFU explores these tensions through the lens of “intimate governance”: how deeply personal decisions about reproduction are entangled with kinship, health systems and national and global inequalities.

The project brings together 12 researchers from Gulu University, Aarhus University, University of Copenhagen and partners in Uganda. Four PhDs, three postdocs and senior scholars collaborate across four thematic work packages: (1) Family planning ; (2) Adoption and fostering; (3) Abortion; and (4) Biomedical fertility treatment. Each package combines ethnographic fieldwork with a survey and policy analysis, and contributes to a shared educational training package with short films for students and patients.

CIFU’s objectives are to build sustainable research capacity at Gulu University and Danish partner Universities, generate new interdisciplinary knowledge on fertility and infertility, and translate findings into education and policy. Methods include long-term field studies in clinics, communities and households, complemented by workshops, online seminars, and collaborative writing retreats.

The results will be published in four PhD theses, peer-reviewed articles, a jointly authored book, and two international conference panels. In addition, training materials, films and policy briefs will communicate insights to health professionals, educators and decision-makers.
By combining academic research with practical tools, CIFU strengthens Ugandan and Danish collaboration in reproductive health and contributes to more equitable healthcare and policies. The outcomes include stronger research environments, better training for health workers, and new knowledge to inform debates on reproductive rights and futures in Africa and beyond.