Since the National Youth Policy of Malawi (2013) was gazetted,
not much has been done on the ground in terms of implementation of the
provisions that are enshrined in the policy. Among them, the provision of Youth
Friendly Health Services (YFHS) is one of the key priority areas in the newly
launched National Youth Policy. However, not much is being done on the ground
to fulfill this.
Public health centres and hospitals are required to have youth
friendly health corners where young people should go and freely access
services. Most adolescents in Malawi face sexual and reproductive health problems
simply because they were, at a certain point in time, not provided with the
necessary services.
Lack of SRH information services in general has resulted into
an increase of the total number of young boys and girls who have been faced
with early pregnancies, STIs including HIV/ AIDS and other SRH problems. Malawi
is also faced by the problem of child marriages and this is mainly a
consequence of the scarcity of SRH and R information and services.
Most young people drop out of school because of pregnancy.
These are scenarios whereby a boy impregnates a girl and the option they choose
is to drop out of school get some jobs to support the child who is usually followed
by other siblings. This is exactly what constantly compromises the health of
the girl and the children she bears.
Furthermore, some girls find themselves marrying an older
man because they were forced to by their parents. Such scenarios are avoidable
only when the girls know their sexual reproductive health rights and the consequences
of early pregnancies.
Now that Malawi has a strong legal framework that is capable
of protecting and enhancing sexual reproductive health and rights of all the
youth, there is need to implement and make sure that the laws and policies are really achieving
their intended purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment