NGO courts communities on reproductive health
Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre (MHRRC) executive director Emma Kaliya says traditional leaders in Mzimba District have a role to play in promoting sexual and reproductive health and the Termination of Pregnancy Bill.
She said this in an interview on Saturday at Champhira in Traditional Authority (T/A) Mabulabo when the organisation engaged traditional leaders on sexual and reproductive health and the proposed Termination of Pregnancy Bill.
Said Kaliya: “We want these leaders to go and meet their members of Parliament [MPs] to have the bill discussed and passed in Parliament.
“Much as abortion remains restricted in the country, a lot of women and girls resort to unsafe pregnancy termination, which is risky and results in complications.”
Inkosi Mabulabo said they will engage their subjects and MPs on the issue because it is important for the country to consider discussing the new grounds contained in the draft abortion law reform bill.
He said: “It is ironic that we are still refusing to discus and adopt the bill when statistics indicate that unsafe abortion cases are rampant.
“At the end of the day, we spend a lot of money treating complications caused by unsafe abortion.”
Mzimba district health office post-abortion care coordinator Gracious Masewo said they registered 1 327 unsafe abortion cases in 2023.
“This year, from January to March, we have recorded 238 cases,” he said.
MHRRC in partnership with Centre for Solutions Journalism, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation and Malawi SRHR Alliance are implementing the Breaking Barriers project nationwide with funds from Applify Change (UK).
