The organization's Project Officer for the "Her Future, Her Choice" project in Balaka, Khumbolane Nyirenda told Zodiak Online that among the adolescent youths, 15 are girls while five are boys.

"A lack of sexual reproductive health rights messages besides poor sound financial base resulted to these adolescents fall victims to teen marriages," she said.

She added that halfway through the project, there has been a decline in teen pregnancies in the impact area from 67 percent to around 34 percent.

A victim of teen pregnancy, Lovenes Shaibu, 23, and now enrolled back at Namalomba Community Day Secondary School believes raising awareness on sexual reproductive health rights among adolescent youths is key to address the problem.

Her sentiments are echoed by Patricia James, 21 a teen mother herself and also a member of Sinthano Youth Club under T/A Amidu. James urges fellow adolescent youths to desist from indulging themselves in early sexual activities as it has the potential to ruin one's future.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is supporting the project, a consortium of the Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM), CAVWOC, Network for Youth Development (NFYD), and Oxfam Malawi.

According to FPAM project officer in Balaka, Esther Moyo, they are working with different people in communities to influence behavior change besides enhancing demand creation on sexual reproductive health services among youths of reproductive age.

Apart from Balaka, the project also runs in Lilongwe aimed at strengthening sexual reproductive health rights and information as well gender-based violence (GBV) among adolescent girls and young women.