BY DRAXON MALOYA.
Malawi. (News Of The South) – Women of Tukombo in Nkhatabay District are said to be travelling long distances to access Reproductive Health Services (RHS) such as contraceptives due to unavailability of some essential drugs at some health friendly service points.
During a whistle stop tour to some trading centers along the Mzuzu-Salima road when the world was commemorating World Safe Abortion Day (WSAD) awareness messages on the dangers of unsafe abortions and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights were provided.
A representative from Family Planning Association of Malawi (Fpam) who is also the chairperson for the youth wing, Youth Action Movement (YAM), Memory Gondwe expressed satisfaction with the activities carried out on the day which she said will go a long way in meeting some thematic areas of the youth friendly health services programs.
“The youth have provided overwhelming responses towards the activities performed here which shall also address issues to do with sexual reproductive health and rights which among others involve the distribution of condoms,
“Next time we shall need a little more time so as to raise some awareness on the same and also dwell much on the effects of unsafe abortion which is also a major challenge affecting many youths,” Gondwe said.
In his remarks the coordinator for Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion (COPUA), Bishop Amos Chuma expressed dismay with the news that women are still walking long distances to access (RHS) which he said would have been an issue of the past if the country had enacted legal provisions surrounding the safe abortion rights bill which is still pending in parliament.
“We have said time and again that these issues to do with reproductive health rights would have been well addressed if the parliament had passed the bill to do with safe abortion which is still gathering dust somewhere,” Chuma said.
In his write-up one of the country’s renowned gynecologist titled “Misconceptions, Fears and Law Reform in Malawi” Dr. Chisali Mhango described abortion as a topic issue which needs a collective responsibility from all the stakeholders as the country continues to use an out date legal provisions.
“The views expressed are shaped by religious ideologies, ethnic, culture, and human rights. Unfortunately many who speaks on this issue stray from the subject matter,
“The issue is that women are dying in the country in increasing numbers, despite the fact that long ago as 1930 this country enacted a law specifically designed to prevent or eliminate abortion deaths as our mortal duty,” Mhango writes.
COPUA is made up of more than 45 civil-society organizations representing women, youths, lawyers, healthcare providers, media, community partners, religious and traditional leaders working to strengthen the sexual reproductive health and rights movement in the country.
In Malawi, unsafe abortion is the second leading cause of pregnancy-related mortality and the leading cause of obstetric complications, emanating from among others restrictive laws, stigma and lack of access to safe services which are key to factors leading women to seek unsafe abortion.
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