Empowering Karonga’s young mothers: a new hope for family planning access

For young mothers like Maria Sichali from Cosam Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mwirang’ombe in Karonga District, accessing Family Planning methods (FPM) can be a frustrating experience.

Sichali recalls a recent visit to her nearest health facility, Mlare, where she was sent back home because the FPM she needed was out of stock.

“I walked on my feet, all hopes on accessing FPM I needed only to be sent back home because what I needed was not available thereby returning home without the needed help,” she narrates.

Shortage of medical supplies which health facilities in Karonga experience is leaving mothers and youth without essential care and support.

On Thursday, however, a ray of hope appeared as Pamoza Tingakwaniska Youth Organization through its Fiska Ulato project funded by Breuckmann Foundation, made a donation of medical supplies worth over 2.5 million kwacha to four health centres: Nyungwe, Mlare, Iponga and Kayelekela.

The donation is part of the NGO’s mother’s day celebration in the month of October and ongoing efforts to address shortage of FP supplies and other medical needs in health facilities.

“We want to help women and youth achieve their goals by helping them access FPM that they need to plan their families well,” explained Gomezgani Mhango, Programs Manager for the organization.

“Through need assessments, we learnt the need to make such a donation as lack of supplies not only limits access to critical FP services but also hinders attainment of ones goals.

As we celebrate mother’s in this month of October, we hope this donation will go a long way in addressing challenges women and youth face when accessing FPM,” she narrates.

The need for this donation was echoed by health centre officials.

At Mlare Health Centre, in charge Suzgika Shaba expressed gratitude for the donation noting it will address challenges.

“The donated supplies are incredibly helpful, we have been lacking supplies like implanon, jadelle and the like,” said Shaba.

At Iponga health centre, incharge Chimwemwe Nangwale highlighted the need for a private space where youth can access FPM without fear of stigma.

“Pamoza is helping us a lot in terms of delivery of services, we however also lack rooms for provision of services as we have a small infrastructure for service delivery, he narrates.

For Nyungwe Health Centre, the donation could not have come at a better time.

“We are very happy for this donation of supplies because they have come when we needed them and they are critical in service delivery,” shared Treaza Makola, incharge for Nyungwe Health Centre.

Fiska Ulato project targets the four health centre and the organisation supports with weekly reports visits that the organisation’s nurses conduct.

As the Organization continues to work closely with Karonga Health facilities, many hope this donation which included Plaster, ioden, cotton wool examination groves, plastic apron, ibuprofen, spirit, surgical blades, gauze bandage, emergency pills and pregnancy kits will lead to lasting improvement in access to FPM.