Youths urge parents to open up on SRHR issues
Youths in Karonga District have urged Parents to open up to their Children on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) issues.
The Youths said this when Pamoza Tingakwaniska Youth Organization conducted a peer group education meeting with members of Thunduti Youth Empowerment Club in the area of Senior Chief Wasambo in the district with funding from Breuckmann Foundation and the German government’s federal ministry for economic cooperation and development.
The participants observed that lack of parent to adolescent communication was one factor contributing to premarital sex and teenage pregnancies.
One of the Youths Chrisie Ngwira, said parent communication on SRHR to adolescents can be a potential source of information by children.
“As a young girl I feel parents are one of the barriers to SRHR because in most cases they see it as a taboo to discuss the matter with their children and as a consequence we might end up getting wrong information from our peers hence end up making bad choices that negatively affect our lives like unwanted pregnancies or diseases,” she said.
On his part Promise Gondwe Vice Chairperson for Thunduti Youth Empowerment Club, hailed the meeting for bringing youths together to discuss issues of peer group education in relation to SRHR and approaches to reach out to parents and guardians regarding the topic.
Further saying the engagement has provided them with skills and knowledge that they can use to break the communication barriers with parents and community members who may have negative attitudes to family planning services.
In a separate interview a Youth Activist in Karonga Barton Theu, underscored the importance of parental communication on SRHR to their adolescents.
Adding the vice is likely to play a key role in preventing mobility and mortality associated with sexual behavior.
”An adolescent who has discussed about sexual and reproductive health rights openly and freely with a parent or guardian is more likely to postpone early sexual intercourse or use contraceptives than those who don’t,” articulated Theu.
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