Articles

Malaria kills around one million people each year, mainly children and pregnant women. Malaria in pregnancy is a major cause of maternal mortality and of low birth weight, which predisposes to neonatal mortality [1]. A single episode of Malaria in the first trimester of pregnancy can cause miscarriage [2], thus emphasizing the danger of Malaria on pregnant women. Fortunately, Health communication for Life (HC4L), a Social Behavioral Change Communication project funded by USAID is trying to encourage prompt health seeking behaviors amongst people in areas of Maternal Newborn and Child Health (M...

Community members at Traditional Authority (T/A) Kawere in Mchinji district have expressed their gratitude to Creative Centre for Community Mobilization (CRECCOM) for encouraging them to be tracking donor-funded projects through their Amplifying Peoples Voices in Demand of Accountability project funded by Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). A Chairperson for Kawere Community Theatre Group (CTG), Goodwell Mwawa said that the training which his club received empowered them to be tracking down development activities with their duty bearers like Chiefs, Village Development Commit...

In the village of Kafyutu, TA Mzukubola, Mzimba district, there is a woman of 52 years of age by the name Merina Moya. This woman was married twice from the same family. What happened was that, after the death of his husband in 1994, she was forced to marry a brother to the deceased because the late husband did not bear any child with her. This second husband bear with her 5 children but the marriage did not continue because the husband was not able to take care of his own children due to unnecessary drinking. She then left the home of the husband and now she stays with her married first girl....

Family health and hygiene is largely dependent on adequate availability of drinking water and proper sanitation. Therefore, there is a direct relationship between water, sanitation and health. Consumption of unsafe drinking water, improper environmental sanitation and lack of personal and food hygiene have been major causes of many diseases in developing countries and Malawi is no exception to this. Good hygiene lowers risks of diseases and illnesses that are commonly spread through viruses and bacteria. Sanitation is one of the basic determinants of quality of life and human development. A he...

Grace Sibande is a widow from Chaliwa Nkhata village at Traditional Authority (T/A) Kampingo Sibande in Mzimba district, Malawi. The woman has three children, one female and two males. The woman is one of the beneficiaries from Social Cash Transfer program who is also on PAST project. Being a widow, life was very challenging with Grace as she expressed “ It was very hard for me to get food for my family that most of the days we were sleeping on an empty stomach, my children were going to school without uniform and without eating anything in the morning, when they come back home from school th...

Joice Banda is one of the PAST project beneficiaries from Zikhore village in the Traditional Authority Mbelwa in Mzimba district. Joice is married with six children, four females and two males. Joice’s life has not been easy for the past years before PAST project. “I used to depend on doing piece works in other people’s fields in order for me to  get food for my family, my children were also not going to school due to lack of school materials like exercise books, uniforms. We sleep in unfinished house all sharing the same room, my home also used to experience diarrhea diseases” Joice na...

Tumenji Ng’oma is an eighty-six years old widow and beneficiary of Social Cash Transfer Program (SCTP). She qualified to benefit from Pathways for Successful Transition (PAST) project after her son, Austin Mzuli was deemed fit to work. Tumenji and Austin come from Shandria Mghuli village, Daniel Jere cluster in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Mabulabo in Mzimba district.  Before the inception of PAST project in 2019, Tumenji depended on her son to do piece works for them to have food especially in the late half of the year. “Our harvests could not last the whole year. This forced...

Life was a mistily for people in Sazola Village, GVH Sazola, Traditional Authority Mabuka in Mulanje due to absence of an under-five clinic in the area. Most pregnant mothers and mothers with under five children did not have an interest to visit the under-five clinic at Mulanje District Hospital which is located at a distance of about a three-hour walk. As such there were high neonatal and maternal complications in the area. Some pregnant mothers and newly born babies lost their lives due to complications that come with child birth. Precisely, of the 100 births which occurred in the area, over...

Primary Health Care in Malawi is faced with different setbacks compromising access to health care by the masses especially those in rural communities solely relying on Government hospitals.Malawi made significant strides in meeting the millennium development goals for literacy, childhood mortality, HIV and malaria but other areas, for example, maternal health, still require innovation and further effort. Malawi’s efforts to attain the sustainable development goals are seen in its attempts to address the World Health Organization (WHO)s six building blocks of health service delivery namely; Hu...

Malawi has vast health problems ranging from its high unmet need for family planning services (26 percent), with acute needs among young people. Even with the gains in child health, 37 percent of Malawian children suffer from chronic malnutrition. Malawi is also high-burden malaria country with an incidence rate of 332 cases annually per every 1,000 people and approximately 4.8 million episodes of malaria per year. Over a third of established positions in the health sector are vacant and there is a perpetual shortage of qualified health workers in facilities across the country. Such tremendous...