By Memory Khutuliwa

Blantyre, May 2, Mana: Blantyre District Youth Office (BDYO) has generated Risk Assessment Vulnerability tool to assess adolescent girls and young women’s (AGYW) mental and reproductive health and to track gender-based violence, HIV and Aids, drug and alcohol abuse, and school dropout.

Blantyre District Youth Officer Peter Mizedya said the tool is meant to deal with issues affecting the AGYW from the age 10 to 24, saying after assessment they will be referred to different institutions for attention.

“This tool helps to detect issues in a fast way at community level since we use peer educators that we trained. We expect to reach the whole district in the next 12 months,” he added.

On GBV, Mizedya said his office refers victims to police stations, community victim support units, education institutions and social workers in their respective communities for psychosocial support and other forms of assistance

“This initiative is really helping; we have seen girls being supported. This has also seen an improvement of uptake of services in health institution more especially in Youth Friendly Services,” he added and expressed hope the tool will offer more improvement on issues that affect the AGYWs.

Community Policing Coordinator for Milare Police Sub Station in Blantyre, Sub-Inspector Harry Makumbi, said there are rising cases of GBV only that some of them are not reported to police.

Makumbi said community members need to be sensitized on how, when and where to report GBV cases.

“Since the tool came into being, we have recoded one case of GBV. This tool will help to encourage GBV victims to report to police,” he added.

Makumbi said that Risk Assessment Vulnerability Tool will bring a greater impact to the AGYWs, observing that peer educators in youth clubs will also use the tool to identify, analyse, evaluate problems the AGYWs face in their respective communities to mitigate further consequences.

The District Youth Office in Chiradzulu used the tool to assess 4,178 AGYWs in Machinjiri and Mpemba where some AGYWs were referred to various institutions for further attention while some opted to go back to school to continue with education.