BY ZIKOMO MATOPE
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has said that it is imperative that adolescent girls that were displaced by Cyclone Ana and Gombe, and are now living in camps, should be given attention as far as sexual reproductive health (SRH) services are concerned.
UNFPA Malawi deputy representative Masaki Watabe noted that with the “new normal” that displaced populations are going through while living in camps it was obvious that adolescent girls were going through a difficult time in their SRH.
UNFPA has, among others, distributed dignity kits containing basic hygiene items such as menstrual pads, soap and underwear to women and girls in Chikwawa and Nsanje districts.
“The move is part of our mandate to restore quality sexual reproductive health and protection services in the aftermath of disasters,” Watabe said.
Recently, UNFPA also handed over solar lamps to young adolescent girls at Fonde Admarc Camp in Chikwawa district.
Fonde Admarc is one of the selected make-shift homes for hundreds of people that were displaced by floods last January.
The camp shelters 250 households and 1630 people of which 1010 are females, 110 are breast feeding mothers, 138 are children under the age of 5, 146 between the ages 9 to 18, 83 between 18 to 35 years and 43 are pregnant mothers.
