Blantyre District Youth Office has produced a Risk Assessment Vulnerability tool to assess adolescent girls and young women’s mental and reproductive health and track gender-based violence (GBV).
The tool will also assess HIV and Aids, drug and alcohol abuse as well as school dropout, according to officials.
Blantyre district youth officer Peter Mizedya said in an interview on Friday that the tool is meant to deal with issues affecting girls aged between 10 and 24.
He said the girls will be referred to different institutions after the assessment.
“This tool helps to detect issues fast at community level since we use peer educators. We expect to reach all girls in the district within the next 12 months,” said Mizedya.
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.
Milare Sub-Police Station community policing coordinator Harry Makumbi said there are GBV cases in the policing area only that some are not reported.
He said community members need to be sensitised on how, when and where to report GBV cases.
“Since introducing the tool, we have recorded one GBV case. This tool will help to encourage GBV victims to report to police,” said Makumbi.
Chiradzulu District Youth Office used the tool to assess 4 178 adolescent and young girls and referred to various institutions for further attention while others opted to go back to school to continue with their education.
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