Children deserve better

On June 16 2018, government hosted the continental celebrations for the Day of the African Child in Lilongwe.

The  Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) set aside the day to remember students massacred in South Africa on June 16 1976 in mass protests against poor quality of education. They wanted to be taught in their own languages.

This is time to deeply reflect on this year’s theme: Leave No Child Behind for Africa’s Development.

This is inspired by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  A continuation of the MDGs, the SDGs puts emphasis on targeting those left furthest behind first.

While notable progress has been made to improve child well-being in Africa, a lot more needs to be done urgently.

The Many Faces of Exclusion, a new report launched by Save the Children on July 1, reveals how poverty, conflict and discrimination against girls are putting more than 1.2 billion children—over half of children worldwide–at risk of an early end to their childhood.

In East and Southern Africa, 120 million are at high risk of missing out on childhood—a time to play, learn and grow.

The report ranks 175 countries where childhood is most and least threatened by poor health, malnutrition, exclusion from education, child labour, child marriage, early pregnancy and extreme violence.

These ‘childhood enders’ are most prevalent where poverty, conflict and gender bias overlap.

Nearly 153 million children are at extreme risk because they live in countries with all three risks.

African countries constitute 19 out of the bottom 20 in the global index.

African governments have made progress in improving the well-being of children, but progress has been painfully slow. More needs to be done urgently if the continent is to achieve SDGs.

Malawi Government, like many other, still face daunting challenges to address violence against children, especially ending child marriages and teen pregnancies.

Although the government committed to the Common African Position on Ending Child Marriage in 2016 and rolling out a national campaign to end this harmful practice, the Malawi Demographic Health Survey shows 42 percent of women aged 20-24years were married before their 18th birthday and the proportion of teen pregnancies rose from 23 percent to 29 percent.

This is startling.

Both mother and child face multiple risks at birth.

Maternal mortality rate stands at 439 per 100 000 live births, with 18 percent of babies born premature. This is the highest rate of premature birth in the world and is often linked to physical immaturity of the mother.

The government has put in place policies and legal instruments to address child marriage.  These include Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act of 2015,  Child Care Protection and Justice Act of 2010 and the strategy to end child marriage.

However, the critical challenge lies in implementing these.

In the true spirit of the children who lost their precious lives in the Soweto Uprising, all stakeholders–including government, civil society, and religious and traditional leaders-—must work together to improve childhood experiences and wellbeing for Malawian children, especially girls.

A major gap that we must address quickly is the absence of a strong monitoring and reporting mechanism holding duty-bearers and institutions to account.

In the next budget, the government, through the Ministry of Gender, should also invest more in long-term social behaviour change communication interventions that address the attitudes and cultural practices that sustain child marriage and early pregnancy.

Such should also include finances for psycho-social support and economic empowerment for girls who are survivors of child marriage and those re-admitted to school.

As we put children at the centre, we must truly and meaningfully engage them.

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children,” said global icon Nelson Mandela.