Health and Rights Education Programme Malawi (HREP) has urged government to increase health funding, especially in the Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) section, to minimise cases of sexually transmitted diseases and other cases that come with deoxidization of reproductive health.

Speaking with the media fraternity on 21 June, 2023 in Blantyre, the Executive Director for HREP Maziko Matemba disclosed that the SRH is the list funded health service with 0.01% budget of the country.

He further said that there is need to improve the innovative approach to addressing reproductive health in the country.

“Malawi needs to gradually increase its budget allocation and call for a lot of partners to increase the SRH budget as it is low compared to the domestic budget allocation for improving women’s and children’s health,” he said.

It was disclosed that the organisation is planning to introduce awards to journalists and civic service organizations.

He also added that the whole purpose of this initiative is to promote reproductive health with articles that will bring about change and have a greater impact on society.

“We came up with this initiative so that policymakers can understand what is going on and what is needed,” he said.

Matemba further said that policymakers act swiftly when they hear and read stories from the press.

“We are in talks with MISA Malawi Chapter, various Press clubs to come up with better strategies on how to introduce and present the awards,” he said.

In his remarks, the president of the Blantyre Press Club Blessings Kanache thanked HREP for involving the media to promote SRH.

“We would like to thank HREP for enlightening journalists on issues concerning reproductive healt, as it will help journalists write impactful and meaningful stories,” he said.

Kanache also added that the media’s role is to help monitor health service provision with articles that will encourage those responsible to continue with their work.