Malawi has the fifth highest mortality rate in the world and it is one of the most HIV/AIDS affected countries in Africa. BLM is endeavouring to counteract this problem amongst the women in Malawi by ensuring that the women have access to high quality Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH)
Services.

Women, in general, hold a special place in BLM’s programme of work. To start with, it is the women who are in the forefront when it comes to family planning. Most family planning methods (the pill, Norplant, Tubal Ligation, Depo Provera etc.) have been designed for women and this has prompted them to take a leading role in their Sexual Reproductive (SRH) health.

When it comes to mothers’ Day celebrations, BLM feels that everyday is mothers day! This is so because of the significant role that BLM plays in the lives of women. BLM has been providing quality family planning methods to Malawian women since it was established in 1987. Nowadays women are seeking new opportunities in life and by enabling women to have the choice of when to have children or not BLM has gone a long way in helping them realize their dreams and achieve their goals.

Women in Malawi are also able to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country through child–spacing which is opening doors to more education, employment and community involvement. Apart from providing different family planning methods in the clinics, BLM, is also using its Community Outreach Clinic Initiative (COCI) which is a form of mobile clinic to take these services to women who are in remote areas. This initiative ensures that women, both in the rural and urban areas have the choice of when to have a child or not.

BLM is also empowering women to gain more control over their own bodies and improve the quality of their life through contraception. Our family planning programme is helping women build their self-esteem and confidence and thus strengthening their autonomy and ability to make a variety of decisions themselves and to share decision-making with their husbands.

For a woman, making reproductive decisions is a first step towards playing a role in social and economic development and Malawi as a nation is also developing because BLM has been able to give women an opportunity to make a choice about their SRH. As the slogan goes, BLM is committed to “Providing Choices in Reproductive Healthcare Countrywide” and specially upholds women in this cause!

Reported by Felistas Sibweza
(Advocacy and Corporate Relations Officer)