Malawi: Free AIDS drugs slash death rate

Source: AlertNet

Free AIDS drugs slash death rate in Malawi study

08 May 2008 23:01:03 GMT

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Source: Reuters

By Ben Hirschler LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) - Providing free AIDS drugs to people in northern Malawi has slashed adult mortality rates, vindicating a recent ramp-up in treatment in poor parts of rural Africa, researchers said on Friday. Just eight months after a free clinic opened in Karonga Town in June 2005, the death rate in a rural area 80 km (50 miles) away had fallen enough to be detected at the general population level, they wrote in the Lancet medical journal.

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Malawi: plans to introduce malaria vaccine World Malaria Day 2008

Source: APA

Malawi planning to introduce malaria vaccine

APA-Lilongwe (Malawi) Malawi is among several countries in Africa planning to introduce a malaria vaccine as one way to prevent the disease that kills an African child every 30 seconds, officials said here Friday.

Deputy Minister of Health Juliana Guga said in Lilongwe during the commemoration of the first World Malaria Day on Friday that once introduced, the vaccine is expected to complement the current tools used to reduce the impact of malaria.

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Malawi librarian wins prestigious international award

Source: APA

Malawi librarian wins prestigious international award

APA-Lilongwe (Malawi) Malawi National Library Service (MNLS) Director, Gray Nyali, has won a prestigious International Library and Information Group (ILIG) Award for developing and taking library services out to a large number of people throughout the country, thereby enriching their lives through reading books, APA has learnt here.

Speaking when presenting the award in Lilongwe on Tuesday, a UK-based Book Aid International representative Berth Murphy said the award is given annually to someone who has made a difference in libraries and information services outside the UK.

\”The ILIG committee was impressed by a number and a variety of spheres which the nominee manages to include in his work,\” she said.

Murphy explained that the award winner operates several library services points in cities and towns of the country.

In addition, she said, he is responsible for coordinating a number of outreach projects in rural areas to connect with rural communities through small local library centres which focus on such matters as district communities, rural growth, adult literacy and schools.

She further said the winner is also responsible for the organisation of several ventures funded by a variety of partners and donors for development of libraries and information provision in Malawi.

Accepting the honour, Nyali said he was absolutely blessed to become the first Malawian to receive such an award. \”This is a motivation for me to move on and try to mobilise the community to a reading culture,\” he said.

FT/nm/APA 2008-04-15

Academic paper: Premarital Sex and Schooling Transitions in Four Sub-Saharan African Countries

Source: DG Communities

Premarital Sex and Schooling Transitions in Four Sub-Saharan African Countries

With data from the 2004 National Survey of Adolescents conducted in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda, this paper investigates the timing of two key transitions in adolescence — school exit and premarital sex — among those who remain enrolled in school at the beginning of adolescence (age 12).

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Malawi: rural ICT campaign

Soúrce: The Soul Beat 103

Chinkokolola - Malawi

Now completed, this was a rural-focused ICT campaign that aimed to promote social and economic transformation in Malawi through the generation of employment opportunities, through the provision of core knowledge resources, and through the enabling of business between firms and people in distant places. Chinkokolola activities fell into 6 categories: advocacy programme, entrepreneurship drive, local access points project, mentorship programme, role of the youth in the information society programme, and World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) participation.

Contact: Kenneth Harry Msiska kennethmsiska@yahoo.com

http://www.comminit.com/en/node/130105/38

Malawi is 10th most peaceful state in Africa - comments from Lilongwe

Source: APA

Malawi is 10th most peaceful state in Africa

APA-Lilongwe (Malawi) The Global Peace Index (GPI), which ranks countries according to their peaceful existence, has ranked Malawi as Number 68 in the world and 10th in Africa in terms of peaceful existence.

The index ranked Tunisia as the most peaceful country in Africa and 39th in the world, seconded by Ghana, which is 40th globally.

Sudan, due to its never-ending wars and conflicts, has been ranked as the least peaceful country in Africa and 120th in the world, followed by Nigeria at 117th in the world.

Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) Executive Director Undule Mwakasungura said Malawi’s current political impasse contributed to an escalation of tensions and hatred in national politics, bringing the country on the verge of instability.

“These tensions and divisions have affected the national peace. For any meaningful national development to take place in the country, there is need for a peaceful environment. And we, as a human rights organisation, strongly believe in the principle of dialogue and tolerance as part of the efforts aimed at achieving a political solution to the current political conflicts,” he said.

President Bingu Wa Mutharika’s Presidential Advisor on National Unity, Nicholas Dausi, said the political tension which has come due to different political parties in the country has made Malawi to be ranked two digits.

“Malawi was the most peaceful country during the one party system of government but in the last 10 years, under democratic rule, the country has been messed up and it is no longer the peaceful country it was,” he said.

He, therefore, urged political parties to resolve their differences and work together for the interest of national peace.

FT/nm/APA 2008-02-27

African Media and Malaria Research Network

Source: The Soul Beat

African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN)

Region

Africa

Programme Summary

Launched in 2006, African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) promotes malaria research communication in Africa by strengthening the capacity of African journalists through training. The network of African journalists and scientists focuses on disseminating information on malaria control initiatives and monitors and advocates for the implementation of malaria policies in Africa. It also advocates and engages policy makers to implement international agreements on malaria control. The network was one of the outcomes of a one-week workshop on malaria research reporting in Africa, for selected journalists from nine African countries: The Gambia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania.

Communication Strategies

The network is designed to create a common platform for African journalists and scientists to work together on efforts to eradicate malaria, The network’s top priority is training journalists to report effectively on malaria. According to the organisers, this will develop in the long-term into a Malaria Media Institute, to be hosted by Women, Media and Change (WOMAC). Membership of the network is open to African journalists interested in reporting on malaria. Scientists, malaria experts and community health workers can become associate members.

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Malawi: Education system

Source: SDNP

Malawi has an 8-4-4-education system consisting of primary school, secondary school and university education with few opportunities for pre-school. The educations system in Malawi faces many challenges in most areas including areas of access, equity, quality and internal efficiency. In its publication; A Policy and Investment Framework for Education in Malawi 1995-2005, the Ministry of Education has covered most of these challenges and problems and also outlined government policy being put in place to address them.

Most of the information available here on education in Malawi will be linked together here.

SCHOOL EDUCATION

Primary School
This is the duration of compulsory education. Most children start formal education at primary school at the age of six. The primary school takes 8 years from Standard 1 to 8 at the end of which pupils write the Primary School Leaving Certificate examinations. These are jointly set, conducted and marked by the Ministry of Education and the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB). Students have to pass and get selected if they are to attend secondary school education in a government secondary school.

The introduction of Free Primary Education in Malawi has seen a large increase in the number of pupils going to primary school but this increase in access has also brought major infrastructure problems and a big decline in quality.

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Malawi to set up body to monitor educational standards

Source: Africa Press Agency

Malawi to set up body to monitor educational standards

APA-Lilongwe (Malawi) The Secretary for Education, Science and Technology, Anthony Livuza, said on Monday here that the Malawi government will establish a Council for Higher Education in June 2008 to monitor the quality of education in the country’s secondary schools and universities. Livuza told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Monday in Lilongwe that when established, the council will be responsible for accreditation, assessment and quality assurance in higher education in Malawi. \”The institution is very important, considering that the education sector in the country has been liberalised and as a result, there is a proliferation of private institutions which need guidance and support to ensure they were delivering quality education,\” he said. Livuza added a high level committee has been appointed to start work on the establishment of the body.

FT/nm/APA

2007-12-17

MALAWI: Malnutrition still a threat

Source: Reuters AlertNet, IRIN NEWS

MALAWI: Malnutrition still a threat

20 Dec 2007 10:17:07 GMT

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Source: IRIN

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author’s alone.

LILONGWE, 18 December 2007 (IRIN) - Despite two years of bumper harvests, malnutrition, partly a consequence of Malawi’s famine in 2005, still lingers. “The scale of the malnutrition problem in Malawi is clearly very large and, given its consequences for economic development and child survival, calls for immediate and large-scale action,” said Aida Girma, UNICEF Resident Representative. “Micronutrient deficiencies, which are often referred to as hidden hunger, are also very high.” Malnutrition is characterised by key indictors, such as the number of underweight children and levels of stunting, wasting and micronutrient deficiencies: stunting levels were at 46 percent, 19 percent of children up to 59 months were underweight, and wasting was 4 percent, the UN Children’s Fund representative added.

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Location matters: Targeted poverty eradication in rural Malawi

Seen on ID21

Location matters: Targeted poverty eradication in rural Malawi

Poverty reduction programmes often make generalised assumptions about the characteristics of rural communities. But not all rural areas are alike. Depending on local conditions and resources, some areas provide better livelihood opportunities than others. Understanding this fact, and using good data to target areas appropriately, will make for more effective poverty reduction.
http://www.id21.org/rural/r5tb1g1.html

MALAWI: Bumper harvest expected again this year

The following article is from IRIN NEWS

MALAWI: Bumper harvest expected again this year

LILONGWE, 26 April (IRIN) - Farmers in Malawi are attributing the abundant harvest they are looking forward to - a total of 3.2 million metric tonnes of maize this year - to a combination of good rains and subsidised fertiliser, although there are still remaining pockets of vulnerability.

“What the government did - to reduce fertiliser [prices] to enable the poor buy cheap fertiliser - has increased food production. It is my sincere hope that government will continue implementing the programme, so that Malawi does not suffer from hunger any longer,” said Amos Banda, a farmer on the outskirts of the capital, Lilongwe.

The government has also attributed the high maize production to subsidised fertiliser, which was sold to farmers at 950 kwacha [about US$6.50] per 50kg bag; in 2004 the price was around K4,000 [about US$27] per 50kg bag.

With a 22 percent increase over last year’s production - 73 percent higher than the average for the last five years, according to government estimates - Malawi’s agricultural sector seems to be recovering after a drought in 2005 left almost five million people in need of food aid.

Banda said that working hard “is the only solution to deal with persistent hunger in our households. We have had good rains in the past few years, but good rainfall without farm inputs and hard work cannot produce better crop yields.”

Joana Kambale, another farmer, praised the government for reducing the cost of fertiliser but suggested that the most poverty-stricken people be given fertiliser free of charge.

“Some of us are keeping orphans, and to raise money to feed the children and buy fertiliser is not easy. However, I have to be thankful to government for the reduction, but free fertiliser to the poor would be helpful,” she said.

Despite forecasts of a good harvest throughout the country, a maize shortage is expected in Karonga district, in the Northern part of Malawi, after a lack of rain in February.

Nevertheless, the farmers have proven resilient. “Although we may not harvest enough maize from this area, we still believe we can survive by growing winter crops. What most people would like, however, is the support from government. We need to irrigate our crops and we can only succeed if we have proper equipment,” said Daniel Mwagomba, a farmer in Karonga.

An estimated 65 percent of Malawi’s 12 million people live below the poverty line, so the vast majority cannot afford irrigation equipment. The government has said it would distribute about 400 treadle pumps - a simple and inexpensive human-powered pump - but farmers in most areas have not yet received them.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture Binton Kuntsaira said there were no plans to discontinue the government’s subsidy programme. “Due to high maize … production last year, government has allowed traders to sell their crops outside Malawi. This year we expect more from our farmers, and this is what the government wants. People must be able to feed themselves.”