NGO engages Machinga youths on safe abortion
M
alawi Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Alliance has advised youths in Machinga District to avoid unsafe abortions.
The non-governmental organisation’s (NGO) youth programme coordinator Gertrude Kapyepye said this on Saturday during a sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) training for youth advocates at Nanyumbu Primary School in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kawinga.
She said most adolescent girls and young women (AGYWs) were resorting to unsafe abortion; hence, urging the advocates to roll out activities to help women and girls get SRH services.
Said Kapyepye: “Most women and girls seek unsafe procedures to do abortion because they do not have access to SRH services.
“Therefore, go back to your areas and encourage girls and women to access SRH services.”
She reiterated that the alliance was concerned with the complications girls and women experience due to unsafe abortion.
Said Kapyepye: “That is why this training is held under the Access to Safe Abortion Advocacy Project, targeting marginalised AGYWs.
“This project seeks to improve access to comprehensive SRH services to girls and women.”
Machinga District Hospital nurse and psychosocial counsellor Davison Mvula said unsafe abortion cases in the district were alarming.
He said: “The leading cause of admission in our female wards is abortion.
“Post abortion cases among the youth in the first half of 2024 are 430, compared with 310 recorded during the corresponding period in 2023.”
A youth Delia Chimtengo from Ngaukanika in T/A Kawinga pledged to support the advocates roll-out activities to encourage more girls and women access SRHR services in their areas.
The alliance, a consortium of six NGOs, is implementing the project in T/As Sale, Kapoloma, Mizinga and Kawinga in Machinga District with funding from Amplify Change.
