Faith Leaders Called to Support SRH Advocacy

Posted by Steria Manda

Faith leaders were invited to take an active role in promoting sexual and reproductive health rights (SRH) to overcome the challenges young people and women face in accessing these rights.

Norwegian Church Aid-Dan Church Aid (NCA-DCA) has highlighted the critical role that faith communities can play in advocating for SRH among people from all walks of life.

NCA-DCA Country Director Stefan Jansen emphasized the importance of collaboration at the advocacy meeting with religious parent bodies in Lilongwe.

“The church has the influence and capacity to create meaningful change by advocating for these issues,” Jansen said. “We hope to see activities that integrate SRH advocacy into ongoing programs,” he added.

The Executive Director of the Health and Development Commission of the Blantyre Synod, Rev. Cliff Nyekanyeka, accepted the call and expressed the Synod’s commitment to addressing SRH-related challenges.

“We are committed to supporting health and development initiatives that protect the dignity and rights of women and girls,” Nyekanyeka said.

He stated that young people in the church are also interested in sexual activities, so it is necessary to introduce them to SRH messages.

“We need to give them the right advice on these issues to avoid future challenges. Most of them are young but they need to be given the right advice so that they can make the right decisions about their future,” Nyekanyeka stressed.

In his speech, Sheikh Afick Riaadi Kangomba, National Education Coordinator of the Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM), said that teachings on SRH are advocated in most religious institutions, but they are not as comprehensive as they should be.

He noted that many of the messages were unclear, so most people were reluctant to access them because they were not aware of some of the information regarding SRH.

Kangomba also lamented that most teachings target only girls, but in many cases boys play a major role in violating these rights. Therefore, the religious leader encouraged his brothers not to leave out their boys when conveying such messages.

The meeting brought together religious leaders from the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) and members of the Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM).