Malawi News Agency (Lilongwe) Blantyre — Churches in the country have been advised to consider accepting that the youth engage in premarital sex which predisposes them to having unwanted pregnancies and contracting HIV.
The Executive Director for Global Hope Mobilization, Caleb Thole said this at a media orientation workshop held in Blantyre on Wednesday.
“It is high time churches stopped burying their heads in the sand by pretending all is well but they should face the reality. This is affecting reproductive health of the youth,” he said, adding that the church is in a better position to reach out to many people should they make deliberate efforts on sexual reproductive health issues.
Thole’s remarks come amid reports that some churches’ teachings emphasize that the youth should abstain from sex until they get married (unlike encouraging them to use condoms) and those who are married should remain faithful to their partners and should adopt natural family planning methods and not artificial methods because of their effects to the human body.
He pointed out that teen pregnancies, early marriage, unsafe abortion and HIV and Aids among others, have heavily affected the Malawian youth.
“The media should assist in disseminating information to communities and also reach out to policy makers, service providers and young people on reproductive health issues,” Thole urged.
Chief Youth Officer for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Wilfred Lichapa said a healthy youth population is an asset to any nation that seeks to achieve sustainable development and among others government is geared to have full involvement of youth in identifying their reproductive and health needs and designing programmes that respond to these needs with special attention to vulnerable and disadvantaged youth.
“In order for government to achieve its set policies and strategies effectively, the media needs to play its rightful role of sensitizing the relevant stakeholders and the nation in general,” he said.
In a related development, Ministry of Health Spokesperson, Henry Chimbali said government has increased budget allocation towards improvement of sexual reproductive health from K1Million in the 2011/12 national budget to K26 Million in the 2013/14 national budget.
“Through this, more people including the youth are expected to have more access to Sexual Reproductive Health services,” he said.
