Will the ordeals
which young people go through just to access Sexual and Reproductive Health
Services ever end in Malawi? Every day, sexual reproductive health issues are
menacing the lives of young Malawians right in front of the Youth Policy and
Youth Friendly Health Services (YFHS) Standards.
The Youth Policy of
Malawi recognizes Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) as one of the
key issues that needs to be dealt with in order to serve and save the leaders
of tomorrow.
It is very distressing
to realize that magnitudes of young girls are still dropping out of school
because of early and unplanned pregnancies. It is tear-jerking to hear that a
total number of eight primary school girls somewhere in Mangochi district have failed to write their Primary
School Leaving Certificate because of pregnancies.
The fact that SRHR Service
providers disclosed that STI cases among young people are occurring at an average of 7 to 8
cases per month in a certain area within Chiradzulu district signals us that
something is not right. It is like we have turned our priorities upside down. The
whole country, mainly those at the helm are talking about sustaining our
resources for the youth. On the other hand, the youth are losing their lives
and failing to continue their studies due to a beast that hides in young people’s
sex and sexuality.
Initiatives to banish
early pregnancies, child marriages, high HIV and STI prevalence among the youth
are in place but there are a few spanners in the wheels of effective implementation
of such initiatives. For example, why are the youth failing to access YFHS
simply because they do not know that the Health Centre that is in their
community is a Service Delivery Point? Is it not just an issue of raising
awareness, electing a simple signpost?
Something has to be done;
otherwise our ears will continue to hear sad stories like the Chiradzulu case
whereby pregnancies among young people have been placed at 60%. For emphasis’ sake, at Namitambo health Centre
in Chiradzulu district, out of 120 mothers who deliver babies per month, about 113
are youths below 24 years old of which about 43 are below 19 years old.
The need to look at the
bottlenecks that are blocking the progress of YFHS provision is inevitable and
the call for comprehensive sexuality education for the youth in school should
be given the much needed push.
How can a girl go to school and
pay for her examination fees only to defer the exam because of pregnancy? This
to a certain extent proves that young people out there know nothing about their
sexuality and reproductive health hence they stumble in their trails due to lack
of knowledge.
For so many years, young people
in Malawi have been trying to access SRH services and they go through a lot
whenever they want to get reliable information concerning their sexual and
reproductive make up.
The country expects the youth to excel in their studies, be active citizens in supporting a number of community development initiatives. However, such a situation is not possible unless the SRH trials and tribulations which these young people go through are addressed amicably.
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