By Temwa Tembo

Police in Balaka district will soon launch an initiative called One Police Officer per School as one of way of ending violence against children in the district.

The initiative which targets over 100 schools in the district is aimed at assigning one police officer to each school to interact with learners on issues to do with violence and abuses that affect them.

Balaka police public relations officer, inspector Felix Misomali, described the initiative as a landmark project to addressing most forms of abuses against the children.

Inspector Misomali said: ‘‘We believe that this initiative will not only help us in ending violence against children in the district but also assist our officers to easily identify and catch those involved in abusing these children.”

He highlighted that children who are subjected to violence and abuses are at risk of suffering physically and mentally.

He further said such children are also prone to HIV/AIDS cases, and could easily end up homeless.

According to a study called Violence against Children and Young Women which was launched in Malawi in March 2015, two out of every three Malawians experience different forms of violence during childhood.

The above findings were contained in a study funded by DFID and conducted by the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, the Center for Social Research at the University of Malawi, UNICEF Malawi and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.