Malawi urged to align sexual health services with regional model law

Malawi has been urged to align its sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) policies with a regional model law currently being implemented across four countries in East and Southern Africa.

Youth Advocates, a Zimbabwe-based organisation, made the call while addressing SRHR stakeholders in Lilongwe.

The model law is currently being adopted in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda and Kenya.

Youth Advocates Executive Director Tatenda Songore said Malawi’s existing laws governing access to SRHR services continue to restrict some adolescents from accessing care.

“This has contributed to a high number of teenage pregnancies, high gender based violence, and new HIV infections among youths,” he said.

Songore said there was inconsistency in how the current laws were applied, with young people seeking SRHR services often turned away from local health facilities because healthcare providers assessed them primarily through the lens of age.

He added that health workers frequently feared repercussions rooted in religious and traditional beliefs, particularly when providing services to young people without parental consent, noting that SRHR services remain a sensitive area that consistently presents such challenges.

Under the model law, healthcare providers are required to offer appropriate services in line with national standards and guidelines, within the framework set out by the World Health Organization.

Among its provisions, the model law seeks to address age-related barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare, and urges countries to integrate it with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other conventions they have ratified.

Hans Katengeza, Deputy Director for Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights programmes in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, said government would work to raise public awareness of the model law to improve understanding of its provisions.

“Adolescents can now access the services without the consent of their parents or guardians because providers are aligning the existing laws with the model law in whatever they are doing,” he said.

Mercy Mwachuku, a Youth Coordinator with Malawi SRHR, said the model law would help harmonise existing laws that had previously limited access to reproductive healthcare due to factors including age and the requirement for parental consent.