By George Mponda

Karonga, September 6, Mana: Karonga Acting District Commissioner (DC) Frank Mkandawire has assured youths that the council will support them in accessing Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) Services.

Mkandawire said youths constitute a majority of the country's population and they are the ones who will help achieve Malawi 2063 hence they need support to be healthy reproductive citizens.

He was speaking Thursday in Karonga at the end of a three-day sexual reproductive health and rights conference for youths from Senior Chiefs Mwirang'ombe and Wasambo, which was organized by Kachila Youth Initiative (KAYI) with funding from Amplify Change.

"The council has strategies to increase the number of youth SRH providers and we will train as many health workers as possible for them to deliver the services effectively. Number two, we will construct youth corners within our health facilities because this is one of the biggest barriers for youths in accessing SRH services, lastly, we want to increase the network of Youth Community Based Distribution Agents (YCBDA) who we will train them to reach out to their fellow youths, “Mkandawire said.

The DC further pledged to ensure that a Youth Centre, which will contain rooms offering health services, indoor games, an Information Communication Technology (ICT) room and business advisory services for economic empowerment, will be constructed at the Boma.

On his part, Executive Director for KAYI, Matchona Ngwira said they are implementing a 'Tubapoke Project' which aims to help remove barriers which youths face in accessing SRH services.

"We want youths to highlight issues which make them fail to access SRH services so that at the end of the day we should make a road map to ensure that the barriers are removed and our youths are free to access these lifesaving services,” Ngwira said.

"We are trying to make sure that more youth-friendly health services providers in the district are trained and health facilities should create special rooms for youths to access these services," he added.

Francis Nhlope Chairperson of Wasambo Youth Network from Senior Chief Wasambo said youths were unable to access SRH services before the inception of the project in the area.

"Cultural beliefs, long distances to health facilities and lack of information on where to access the services were some of the challenges which caused this but at least now with the project, things have improved a lot as youths in our area are now accessing the services, “said Nhlope.

The conference was held under the theme "Breaking the barriers on sexual reproductive health and rights for young people".