‘Few youths access family planning services’
Ntchisi district youth-friendly services coordinator Thokozani Kaledzera says a lot of youths do not access family planning services in the district.
In an interview, the official attributed this to shortage of trained healthcare workers for youth-friendly services.
Said Kaledzera: “As a result, this has led to teen pregnancies.
“There are 13 health centres in the district and five have no health worker to provide the services while four have one each and the other four have two providers each.”
However, she said plans are under way to train more youth-friendly service providers, depending on the availability of funds.
In a separate interview, the Evangelical Association of Malawi national coordinator Howard Kasiya, whose organisation launched a sexual and reproductive health project in the district, said more girls are aware of family planning services.
“Before we launched Nzatonse Project in 2014, few girls knew about family planning methods. We are pleased that now some are demanding the services,” he said.
