Health Emergency Response
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Tackling Teenage Pregnancy
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EMMS International's Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programme is responding to the rise in teenage pregnancies in Malawi. Your support will help young people make choices that protect their health and their future. You can help girls continue in education, giving them the opportunity to pursue their own hopes for the future.
The programme is turning the tide on teenage pregnancies by:
• Involving community leaders and men
• Repurposing initiation rituals
• Improving sex education in schools
• Youth-friendly health services
• Helping girls stay in school or do vocational training
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Asale's Story
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Asale is 15 years old. When her school closed during the pandemic she had nothing to do and so she spent more time with her 17-year-old boyfriend.
“I went there not knowing that we are going to have sex. We started chatting, as usual. Suddenly he started asking for sex. I tried to refuse but he convinced me that we were young and nothing can happen. After a month I missed my period.”
This is how Asale shared her story when she arrived at Mulanje Mission Hospital three months pregnant. She’d been worried about telling her mother and had considered an abortion instead. Abortion is illegal in Malawi and Asale would have been putting her life on the line. With her sister’s support, she found the courage to tell her mother.
“I was so afraid but I thank my sister who was very supportive. Otherwise, I could have ended my own life.”
In Malawi, early pregnancy usually means an end to education and the opportunity for girls to pursue their own hopes for the future. But that doesn’t have to be the case.
Mulanje Mission Hospital is supporting Asale through her pregnancy. They will help Asale and the family to prepare so that once the baby has been delivered and it is safe to do so, Asale can return to school. Completing her education will give Asale and her young baby the best chance in life.
It is vital to act early, to stop girls’ health and lives from being put at risk. Talking to girls and boys directly helps them to make better, safer choices. Your support is helping us to reach those young people. You can help girls like Asale continue in education and allow them to pursue their own hopes for the future.
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Earthquake Response in Nepal
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Thanks to your help, EMMS International was able to offer assistance to support services after the massive destruction caused by the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the Karnali Province in Nepal on the night of the 3rd November. 154 people died and 364 were injured, with 26,557 buildings destroyed or made uninhabitable.
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26-year-old Dilli lives in West Rukum in Nepal, and is visually impaired. The earthquake that occurred on 3rd November damaged his house, and he and his family spent a cold winter living under a tarpaulin. The needs of people who are living with disabilities are often overlooked during a disaster response, but our partners in Nepal were able to provide him with a blanket, warm hat, socks, shawl, a winter bedsheet, and a white stick together with 5 days of training about how best to use it. They've also been able to provide items such as wheel-chairs, crutches, spinal air mattress and commode-chairs to those who need them. Thanks to our supporters and the response to our emergency appeal, we were able to provide these desperately-needed funds quickly and get them to where they were most needed.
Leprosy Re-Elimination in Nepal
Urgent action is needed to end Leprosy in Nepal, a devastatingly stubborn disease, pushing its victims into further poverty and a life of suffering. ​We are working with our partners in Nepal to detect and eradicate leprosy, a devastating disease which plunges the already vulnerable into further poverty and a life of suffering.
Over the past year, 90 people with leprosy have been receiving nursing care at three hospitals in Nepal. Our work with partners in the country also focuses on improving community detection and awareness of leprosy with the overall goal of zero transmission, zero discrimination and zero disability.
Food security in Malawi
On 23 March 2024, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera declared a State of Disaster, in 23 out of Malawi’s 28 districts affected by recent El Niño conditions. Two million farming households and almost half of the national crop area have been affected.
We are working with 21 partner hospitals and health centres to distribute maize flour directly to households where a family member is receiving palliative care. Each bag of maize, a humble yet desperately needed offering, represents sustenance for a family coping with a loved one’s terminal illness. Our partners are on stand-by to distribute food to 2,596 families through our network, whose palliative care services we developed. Discover more about our current appeal here.
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