Neno Youth decries low uptake of family planning services by teens

The Neno district hospital Youth Friendly Health Services office has complained about lack of interest by a lot of youths to utilize family planning services, a situation that has resulted in teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STLs).

The district’s family planning coordinator, Antony Sandiyang’ane said in 2021 alone 1, 897 teens got pregnant and in this year (2022) the number has increased to 2, 082.

In additional to that, in 2021, about 2, 481 youths got sexually transmitted diseases and 2, 216 have been recorded this year.

To reduce this challenge, the Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM) through N’zatonse phase4 project is taking the family planning services to rural areas for easy access by the youths and adults.

Bright Khungwa a youth representative has since encouraged his fellow youths to support the services in order to protect their future.