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Abstract:
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Although the definition of adolescence varies across cultures and different studies use various age-groups, the common understanding of this concept is that it is a period in which children make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In Malawi, adolescence is typically defined to span the ages of 10 to 19. The 1998 census showed that adolescents comprise 23% of the total population of Malawi and the majority live in rural areas. The population of adolescents is estimated to have increased from 1.86 million in 1987 to 3.01 million in 2002.
This report is part of a larger, five-year study of adolescent sexual and reproductive health issues called “Protecting the Next Generation: Understanding HIV Risk Among Youth (PNG)”. The primary goal of this report is to summarise what is known about adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Malawi and to identify knowledge and programme gaps requiring further research and program action.
Based on the findings from this synthesis, the following conclusions are identified:
- there are a number of regional variations in Malawi regarding key indicators such as age at first sex and age at first marriage
- given the paucity of data on sexual abuse, there is need to find out the magnitude of the problem in Malawi
- abortion is legally restricted in Malawi, yet it is an important medical and social problem - hospital records show that many women, particularly young girls, resort to dangerous and unorthodox means of abortion that put their health and lives in danger
- there are a number of cultural practices that put adolescents at risk of contracting HIV and other sexually trasmitted infections
- a range of sexual and reproductive health services are offered to adolescents, but some adolescents are not even aware of the existence of such services
- voluntary counseling and testing is now a key component of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment
- while the level of adolescent sexual and reproductive health programme activity has expanded considerably over the last few years, there is a need to carry out comprehensive evaluations of the impact of programmes in order to establish best practices to be scaled up. |