The Malawi Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance has attributed to the rising cases of teenage pregnancies to government’s shift in priorities to the fight against the covid-19 pandemic.

The Alliance’s National Program Coordinator, Hastings Saka was commenting on media reports that over 10,000 girls from various districts have become pregnant amid the prolonged closure of schools due to the pandemic.

Speaking to YFM, Saka said that the country is grappling with the pandemic at the expense of equally important sectors including sexual and reproductive health and rights.

“This is really a dilemma and we should not blame anyone, but rather focus of finding solutions to the problem, however we cannot rule out that covid-19 has affected the sector,” he said.

“The government is now prioritizing covid-19 and this is being done at the expense of SRH&R, the services are not being provided as before,” added Saka.

Saka however further urged young people to be responsible enough by not indulging in unsafe sex.

“We should also at the young people’s responsibility on this matter. They need to be responsible for their lives and actions by among other things avoiding unsafe sex.”

According to media reports, over 10,000 girls have become pregnant from January this year and of the total number, about 7,000 are girls from Mangochi district.