Malawi / APZU

The situation in Malawi

Located in southeastern Africa, the small landlocked nation of Malawi has over 13.6 million people – 85 percent of whom live in rural areas. Lake Malawi, the third largest lake on the continent, occupies about one fifth of the Pennsylvania-sized country, with rocky plateaus, narrow valleys and grassy plains rolling over the rest.

Malawians are among the poorest people in the world. More than 75 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day, and the U.N. Development Program’s Human Development Index ranks the country near the bottom – 171 out of 187 countries.

Poor access to health care, low levels of education, infectious diseases, environmental destruction, and malnutrition plague the country. Infant, child and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world. More than one in ten Malawian children die before reaching the age of five. One in five children under the age of five is moderately or severely underweight, and over half suffer from moderate or severe stunting due to chronic malnutrition. And Malawian women face a 15 percent chance of dying as a result of complications from pregnancy or childbirth.

Malawi suffers one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection. Many estimates put the infection rate at over 14 percent of the adult population, with rates creeping up to 30 percent or higher in some areas. AIDS kills an estimated 85,000 Malawians each year, all of which has left 700,000 to 1.2 million orphans. Because of these crises, the median age in Malawi is 17, compared to 37 in the U.S.

PIH's work in Malawi

	In Malawi, PIH hires and trains workers to raise, collect and distribute food.

In 2007, PIH (Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo in Chichewa) began working in partnership with the Malawian Ministry of Health in the rural Neno district to provide comprehensive, community-based care to a catchment area of about 125,000 people.

At the time, Neno did not have a district hospital, and its 10 health centers had fallen into disrepair.

Just two years later, PIH/APZU completed construction of the state-of-the-art Neno District Hosptal. Other recent efforts include renovating seven community health centers and constructing a community hospital in Lisungwi, which is located in an area severly burdened by the AIDS epidemic. Facilities currently supported by PIH/APZU include:

• Neno District Hospital
• Lisungwi Community Hospital
• Health Centers: Matope*, Chifunga, Nsambe*, Magaleta, Luwani, Zalewa, Midzemba
• Training Centers: Matadani, Ligowe, Nkula, Neno Parish

* Denotes a private facility 

These facilities employ a staff of over 1,350, including 700 community health workers who serve as a vital link between their villages and the health centers.

Key programs at these centers include treatment and prevention for complex diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and drug-resistant tuberculosis, as well as initiatives to treat and prevent malaria, reduce maternal mortality rates, and treat childhood malnutrition. PIH/APZU opened a Nutritional Rehabilitation Unit (NRU) in 2011 — the first of its kind in the district.

PIH/APZU also supports a number of socioeconomic programs, as poverty is so often the root cause of disease. The Program on Social and Economic Rights (POSER) organizes adult-literacy classes and job skills training and employment programs (including carpentry, tailoring, knitting, farming, and running a local restaurant) to help patients and their families lift themselves out of poverty. The program also helps children attend school and provides safe housing for patients in need.

Learn more about PIH's work in Malawi.