By Allan Nyasulu

Mzimba, August 4, Mana: Hospital authorities in Mzimba have citedhigh migration of men to South Africa in the district as chief reason for a large number of post-abortion cases.

Mzimba District Hospital alone registered 434 post-abortion cases in 2021.

The hospital’s Post-abortion Care Coordinator, Gracious Masewo, disclosed the statistics Tuesday during District Executive Committee meeting for M’Mbelwa District Council, saying this was due men migrating to South Africa leaving their wives behind to fend for themselves.

 “We have specific figures from health centres such as Mzambazi, Euthini, Embangweni, Katete and Jenda. So, it means if we put together data from such facilities, we could have more than 1000 abortion cases in the district,” said Masewo.

According to Masewo, most of the cases involve women with ages ranging from 20 to 30 followed by those ranging from 14 to 19 while the age bracket of 31 to 40 has lower cases.

The hospital’s Post-abortion Care Coordinator attributed the large number of post-abortion cases to high migration of men to South Africa in the district who leave their wives behind to fend for themselves. 

“When left alone, most women indulge in sexual affairs that, oftentimes, result into unwanted pregnancies which are unsafely aborted,” he explained.

Since abortion is illegal in Malawi and only allowed when the mother’s life is at risk, Masewo disclosed that the data indicates that there are many cases of induced abortions.

In his remarks, Programmes Coordinator for Family Planning Association of Malawi, Gerald Maulidi said his organization has introduced a Post-Abortion Care Advocacy Project in traditional authorities M’mbelwa and Chindi to reduce cases of abortion.

However, M’Mbelwa District Council Director of Planning and Development, Walter Chikuni said it is high time people are sensitized on the dangers of unsafe abortion to avoid loss of lives.

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