After giving birth to four children in quick succession, 24-year-old Kwaleya Manyozo from Salima district has found peace, control, and a brighter future through modern family planning.
For 24-year-old Kwaleya Manyozo from Kaunganya Village in Traditional Authority Pemba, Salima District, the message from members of Mzati Radio Listening Club could not have come at a better time.
It emphasized the importance of using modern contraceptive methods to achieve the desired number of children and ensure proper spacing between pregnancies.
After giving birth to three sons and a daughter, Manyozo realized that she needed to take control of her reproductive health.
“Child spacing was difficult,” she recalls. “I was having one child after another.”
Following the awareness sessions conducted by the Radio Listening Club, Manyozo discussed the matter with her husband, and together they agreed to start using family planning.
She initially opted for the Depo-Provera injection, but after experiencing some side effects, Manyozo consulted the club members again.
On their advice, she switched to oral contraceptive pills, which she says have worked perfectly for her since she began using them in May 2018.
“Everything is going well with my body, and I haven’t experienced any problems,” she says with relief.
Now a mother of two surviving children following the death of her second-born daughter, Manyozo testifies that family planning has given her time to properly raise her children and manage her household.
“Family planning is very important because it has allowed me to focus on raising my third-born son before having another child,” she explains.
“My third child was born on December 27, 2016, and since then, we’ve been raising him peacefully without worry.”
Manyozo encourages other women to embrace family planning, stressing that it helps families plan their future better, promotes child health, and gives women the freedom to pursue other goals.
The Mzati Radio Listening Club operates under the Health Communication for Life (HC4L) project, a five-year, $24.7 million initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Implemented by Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO) under FHI 360, the project works in Chikwawa, Salima, Nkhotakota, and Nkhata Bay districts.
It supports the Government of Malawi’s efforts to increase public demand for quality and sustainable health services, focusing on maternal, neonatal, and child health; HIV; family planning and reproductive health; malaria; nutrition; and water, sanitation, and hygiene.
