By Chimwemwe Njoloma
Lilongwe, October 27, Mana: In serving their mission of children by choice and not by chance, Banja La Mtsogolo (BLM) on Tuesday donated assorted medical supplies and stationery amounting to K40million to Ministry of health.
The donation was made through the Reproductive Health Directorate (RHD) in the Ministry of health.
The donation includes calendars for self-administration of the easy to use injectable called DMPASC, printing toner and reporting booklets to assist many Malawian women and girls, the poor and vulnerable to access modern methods of contraception.
In his speech at the presentation ceremony in Lilongwe, BLM Country Director, Maarten van de Reep said the initiative is to compliment the efforts of the government in making sure that the unmet need for family planning both for married and unmarried women in Malawi is reduced.
Reep said that BLM aims to ensure that all people can access affordable modern contraceptive services and can choose the most appropriate method to meet their needs.
“We believe that everybody wins when women and girls can access contraception safely and easily.
“We hope that the initiative will contribute to fewer girls dropping out of school and will also help decrease the number of women dying from complications of unsafe abortions or other complications related to pregnancy and childbirth,”said Reep.
He added that as a result of the donation, there will be an increase in the number of young people in the workplace contributing to the economy of the country.
He said: “Families with the ability to choose whether and when to have children are less likely to fall into or remain trapped in poverty. Children of families who have planned and controlled their fertility are more likely to be healthy, fed and schooled.”
On her part, RHD Director, Fannie Kachale said the year 2020 probably parallels no other year in recent times in as far as issues of teen pregnancies are concerned.
She said the country has witnessed a high number of young girls getting pregnant and most of these are school going girls in between the ages of 10 and 14 who would have been chasing their dreams and shaping their future.
Kachale hailed BLM for their continued contribution to sexual reproductive health in multiple ways including service delivery and technical support.
“We are very happy to receive family planning commodities, family planning registers and stationery from BLM as it will help make Malawi safe for our women and girls,”she said.
She said government alone cannot afford the task hence the need for partners such as BLM to come in.
“As a directorate responsible for sexual and reproductive health care under the ministry of health, we have got a big task to ensure that all women and girls have access to quality, modern and safe contraceptive services and so we need more partners to join hands,”said Kachale.
She said the items will be used in public health facilities in serving women and girls to help prevent unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
Reep said the donation amounts to MK40 million and he thanked government through the RHD for the cordial working relationship that has existed between the two.
