What This Means
This research examines why adolescents in Malawi continue to face serious barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services and rights (SRHR), despite existing policies meant to protect them. The study gathered perspectives from 42 key informants — including government officials, international development partners, civil society groups, and community members — as well as through workshops and a review of existing documents. It found that deep-rooted problems like poverty, gender inequality, early marriage, gender-based violence, and limited access to contraception and sexuality education are major obstacles. Importantly, the study also found that Malawi's health and education programs in this area are heavily dependent on international donor funding, which makes them fragile and vulnerable to shifting external priorities.
The research identified several institutional problems that compound these social challenges: there are no dedicated government budget lines for adolescent SRHR programs, different sectors of government coordinate poorly with each other, politicians tend to focus on short-term gains rather than long-term health investments, and influential religious organizations often resist programming related to adolescent sexual health. Together, these factors mean that even when good policies exist on paper, they are rarely fully implemented in practice.
This research suggests that meaningful progress will require Malawi to increase its own domestic investment in adolescent SRHR rather than relying primarily on external donors, improve coordination between government ministries, find constructive ways to engage religious and community leaders, ensure young people have a genuine voice in shaping programs that affect them, and treat adolescent reproductive health as a core national development issue rather than a peripheral concern. The authors emphasize that these changes will require sustained political will and a stronger sense of national ownership over the problem.