Musicians sing for safe abortion

Eleven artists in the country have joined hands in producing an album highlighting the problem of unsafe abortions which continue to affect the health and lives of women and girls in the country.

Titled Amayi Akuferanji, the Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortions (Copua) is the force behind the 11-track album which will be launched on Saturday at Mangochi Airstrip.

The album, which features artists such as Maskal, Dan Lu, Agorosso, Katelele Ching’oma and Wendy Harawa, has different genres including reggae, hip hop and Rn’B.

“The reason for coming up with the Amayi Akuferanji album is to raise awareness and educate the public about the need for laws that will promote reproductive health of women, but also to gain support for law reform, through music.

“Music is a mode of communication that is effective in spreading messages to a large audience. Our organisations thought it could use this channel of communication to engage as many Malawians as possible with messages supporting reproductive health and rights of girls and women,” said Copua chairperson Godfrey Kangaude.

According to Copua, a study on the magnitude of the problem of unsafe abortions in Malawi that was conducted by the Ministry of Health in 2009 showed that over 70 000 women and girls induce abortions every year. Out of these, over 30 000 women and girls end up with complications that require to be treated at a hospital.

“The underlying cause of unsafe abortions is failure to access safe abortion; the current laws of Malawi restrict access to abortion only to conditions where the life of the pregnant women is in danger. Girls and women who want to terminate pregnancy for other reasons tend to seek unsafe methods which result in these unsafe abortions.

On his part, Maskal said time has come for people to start engaging into discussions unsafe abortions.

“I am doing it for the cause as a lot of people keep dying and it is unavoidable to keep quiet. Most women who engage in unsafe abortions suffer trauma and complications which sometimes result in some women losing their uterus. So we need to start educating people on the ills of abortions,” he explained.

The album, which will be distributed for free, has been recorded and mastered at the Centre for Development Communications.