Oxfam says increased access to sexual and reproductive health messages as well as uptake of reproductive health commodities is crucial in curbing the prevalence of teenage pregnancies and early marriages among the youths in the country.
Oxfam Malawi country Director,Lingalireni Mihowa made the remarks in Balaka on Thursday when the Organization through their project, ‘Her Future Her Choice’ presented 50 bicycles to various village structures drawn from Traditional Authorities Amidu and Kalembo in the district.
Some of the village structures that have benefitted from the donation includes youth clubs, peer educators, community based distribution agents, community action groups among others.
According to Mihowa, the donation is in response to mobility challenges that were registered in the course of dissemination of sexual and reproductive health messages as volunteers had to travel long distances.
”We noted with great concern that volunteers at village level faced a number of mobility challenges in order to reach out to young people with messages aswell as reproductive health commodities especially in hard to reach areas.It’s now our expectation that the donation will help them to comfortably execute their work,” said Mihowa.
She further stressed that young people in the country needs to be supported with all the necessary resources and services inorder to protect them from the risk of catching sexually transmitted Infections (STI’s),teen pregnancies and engaging in early marriages.
Speaking during the same occasion, Balaka District Youth officer Godfrey Mpinganjira applauded Oxfam for the gesture, arguing this will help to keep in check cases of prevalence rates of teenage pregnancies and early marriages in the areas of two traditional authorities which he described as overwhelming.
In his remarks,Balaka District health Office youth friendly health services coordinator,Daniel Mika described the donation as timely as it would enhance the delivery of various health services by Community Bases Distribution Agents (CBDA’s).
Mika said: “The project has tremendously improved in the uptake of various health services by the Youths as they now feel open to be seek medical attention when they face health challenges.”
About 75 bicycles are also expected to be distributed in Lilongwe district in the same project.
Her Future her choice (HFHC) is a multinational project currently underway in Malawi, Mozambique Ethiopia and Zambia.
The project seeks to enhance access to Sexual reproductive health and rights among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) as well as adolescent boys and young men (ABYM) with a primary focus on the former.
In Malawi, the grant holder is Oxfam Malawi and the project is being implemented by a consortium of non-governmental Organizations which includes; the centre for alternatives for victimized women and children (CAVWOC), network for youth development (NFYD) and family planning association of Malawi (FPAM) with financial support from the Global Affairs Canada through Oxfam Canada.
The project commenced in 2019 and is expected to close in March,2023.
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