By Sarah Mlozoa

Mangochi district has registered an increase in number of women preferring the newly introduced Depo-Provera, a self-administered injectable contraceptive method.

This was disclosed during the first monitoring visit of DMPA-SC Family Planning project in Mangochi district by officials from the ministry of Health and Population.

Director of Reproductive Health Services, Funny Kachare told YFM that the ministry is impressed with the uptake of Depo-Provera which was piloted in Mangochi.

“Ever since we started this program in 2018 with Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO), we have actually seen that women prefer this method of contraception since it serves time by injecting themselves due to the nature of the method where the injection is either provided by the provider or women can be motivated to inject themselves,” Kachare said.

Kachare added that the program will roll out in other ten districts across the country.

In her remarks, Programs Support Manager for YONECO, Eunice Banda said they are really mesmerized with the progress made in the six Traditional Authorities in Mangochi.

“Initially just hearing of the self-injection people thought women cannot manage to inject themselves but through the various activities that we had like community mass awareness meetings and road shows this has helped the community to understand what Depo-Provera is,” Banda said.

Youth Net and Counselling rolled out DMPA-SC Family Planning project in Mangochi district in December last year with funding from FHI 360.

Other partners are implementing the program in Thyolo, Machinga, Salima, Nkhotakota and Mzimba.