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Machinga District Heath Office says cases of Sexually transmitted diseases and early pregnancies among the youth are very high in the district because of low uptake of family planning methods.
Assistant Youth Friendly Health Services Coordinator, Kenneth Mkandawire said this on Saturday during a Family Planning Association of Malawi’s awareness campaign meeting held at group village head Mangamba headquarters in the area of senior chief Liwonde.
He said 14 in every 100 cases in the health facilities are Sexualy Transmitted Infection (STI) cases adding that the figures are likely to double if private health facility figures are added.
“In terms of teenage pregnancies currently out of all women who are pregnant about 43 percent are teenagers of 10 to 24 years old. From January to August this year, the number of teenage pregnancies have reached 2,203,” he said.
He observed that TA Liwonde is one such area where young people are not adequately accessing family planning services.
“Our records are showing that between January and August this year, only 55 youth are currently accessing family planning methods in our three heath facilities here in Liwonde.
“We are very much worried because the area has 592 youths of age between 10 and 24 who are receiving antenatal services. In addition, 325 young girls have delivered, 89 have tested positive to STI and 48 are on ART.” he said.
Read the whole article published by the Malawi News Agency here
