Malawi sees rise in teen pregnancies amid pandemic

Reproductive health services have taken a backseat to the global coronavirus pandemic and in Malawi unwanted pregnancies and marriages have increased.

As national health services shift to focus their care for those with COVID-19, attention in other areas of need including sexual and reproductive health services (SRHS) has slipped.

In the south Malawi district of Phalombe, 17 year-old Eliza Majuri said she was lured into a relationship with a married man in March, before he left her when she got pregnant.

"At the time he proposed, he committed to marry me if I got pregnant and that we would be living together," she said.

Eliza is one of thousands of teenagers who have fallen pregnant in Malawi between March and June 2020, a problem authorities directly link to the global pandemic.

Many of the teens are pushed into early marriages.

According to Oxfam, Phalombe alone has registered 2,784 cases of teen pregnancies and 800 child marriages since March when schools closed.

The organisation has also identified an increase in cases in Machinga-east Malawi, where there are 418 teen pregnancies and 285 child marriages.

In Mangochi district 7,274 teen pregnancies have been recorded.

Malawi Ministry of Health Principal Secretary Dr Charles Mwansambo said in 2020 there has been an increase in pregnancies between the ages of ten and 19 compared to the previous year.

"That's 29 out of every 100 pregnancies in young ones between the ages of ten and 19 and if you look at the same period this year in 2020, that has increased to 35% which means that out of every 100 pregnancies 35 are between the ages of 10 and 19," he said.

Just like many other girls in her situation, Eliza does not have enough food, clothes and other essentials.

"Eliza was very respectful to everyone both young and the old. She also used to do well in school. When she got pregnant, I got so angry remembering how I struggled to raise her. I resolved to chase her to her husband because I did not expect this from her," said Eliza's mother, Ester Chipinda.

Matilda Matiya, who leads a mothers group team of women that is mediating a process to have Eliza return to her parents for assistance, said services were available in the area but was not accessed by many girls.

"Family planning methods are available in our area but because they are found at a distance from here, most girls do not access them," Matiya said.

Malawi isn't alone in a seeing an increase in teen pregnancies during the pandemic, it's also been reported in many other African nations and countries around the world.

Research conducted United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) along with Avenir Health, Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and Victoria University in Australia and released in April predicted globally there could be seven million unintended pregnancies during the global pandemic.

This was a result of limited access to modern contraceptives, if lockdowns and disruptions to health services were to continue for six months, the research concluded.

UNFPA also predicted an increase in cases of violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation due to lockdowns.

Olive Mtema, Country Director for Health Policy Plus Malawi, a USAID funded worldwide project believes the upsurge of teen pregnancies means the poverty cycle is exacerbated.

"The future is the young people today and we have to invest in these young people. So, if they fall pregnant it means their future has been disturbed, and if they fall pregnant today at 14, how is their life going to be? So, the poverty cycle continues," Mtema said.

She said lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services predisposes girls to unprotected sex, which could lead to pregnancies.