The development is forcing victims to move from one office to the other for psychosocial assistance in the district.

Thyolo District Social Welfare Officer, Derrick Mwenda, told Zodiak Online on Monday that the center at the district hospital is not operational after being hit by resources and capacity constraints.

"We are trying our best to ensure that the survivors of defilement cases are receiving necessary and approximate support in terms of counseling and psychosocial support.

“As a district, ideally I would say we have a One Stop Center at the hospital but it has been a challenge in terms of resources and capacity of service providers who are supposed to be there," Mwenda said.

However, Mwenda hopes for its revamping in the next financial year to provide psychosocial support to the victims under one roof.

"So, this this time around, I would say that the facility is not active, but plans are there to revive the centre. We have already identified a partner who will help us in training the service providers on how they would be managing the centre," He added.

Meanwhile, Mwenda's concern was shared by Senior Resident Magistrate Assunta Muwalo Maxwell who recently called for concerted efforts to arrest increased sexual violence against girls in the district.

"It’s almost every other week, not week goes by that we don't register at least two or three cases of defilement. This has become very worrying to the community and I think the country as a whole," Muwalo said.