Health in Malawi

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Malawi ranks 170th out of 174 in the World Health Organization lifespan tables; 88% of the population live on less than £2.40 per day; and 50% are below the poverty line.[1]

Introduction

burden of disease from both communicable and non-communicable diseases. This is evidenced by high levels of child and adult mortality rates and high prevalence of diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. In addition to that, there is growing evidence that suggests that there is a growing burden of non-communicable diseases which account nearly 32% of all deaths.[2] According to the recent 2018 Census done by the National Statistical Office in Malawi, the country has a total population of 17.5 million people. Nearly 15% of the population is composed of under five children, 36% is aged between 5 and 17 years and 49.7% is aged 18 years and above[3]

Health status

Top 10 causes of death in Malawi

There has been a shift in causes of mortality in many countries over the years. This can be as result of different factors like improved health interventions and access to health care, improved economic and social status and improved knowledge. This has resulted into a shift in the global burden of disease. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)[4] the top ten causes of death in Malawi are:[5]

  1. HIV/AIDS (18.17%)
  2. Respiratory infections and tuberculosis
    (12.96%)
  3. Cardiovascular diseases
    (11.6%)
  4. Maternal and neonatal disorders (9.36%)
  5. Neoplasms
    (7.8%)
  6. Enteric infections (6.27%)
  7. Neglected tropical diseases and malaria (5.76%)
  8. Digestive diseases
    (4.34%)
  9. Other infectious diseases (4.29%)
  10. Other non-communicable disease (3.99%).[5]
    Causes of death in Malawi

Life expectancy

As of 2018 the estimated average life expectancy at birth in Malawi is at 64 years, with females having a slightly higher life expectancy at 67 years than males at 61.4 years.[6]

Fertility rate

In 2014 Malawi had a total

fertility rate of 2.1 children born/woman.[7]

Infectious diseases

There is a high degree of risk for major infectious diseases, including

protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, plague, schistosomiasis and rabies.[8]

HIV/AIDS

Further information: HIV/AIDS in Malawi

In 2013 Malawi had a HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate of 11%.[7] In 2013 there were 920,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, and 51,000 AIDS related deaths.[7] Data indicate that 8.8% of women and men aged 15–49 have HIV and the prevalence is higher among women than men (10.8% versus 6.4%).[9]

Due to the vast scope of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, many Malawian men believe that HIV contraction and death from AIDS are inevitable.[10] Older men in particular often claim that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is a punishment issued by God or other supernatural forces.[10] Other men refer to their own irresponsible sexual behaviors when explaining why they believe that death from AIDS is inevitable.[10]

AIDS orphans in Malawi

These men sometimes claim that

condom use during sex with extramarital partners.[10] Finally, some men identify as HIV-positive without having undergone testing for HIV, preferring to believe that they have already been infected so they can avoid adopting undesirable preventative measures such as condom use or strict fidelity.[10] Because of these fatalistic beliefs, many men continue engaging in extramarital sexual relations despite the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Malawi.[11]

However, despite these widespread feelings of fatalism, some men believe that they can avoid HIV contraction by modifying their personal behaviors.

condoms consistently, particularly during marital intercourse; instead, they usually continue engaging in extramarital sexual relations, but alter the ways in which they choose their sexual partners.[10]

For example, before selecting extramarital sexual partners, men sometimes survey their peers to determine whether their potential partners are likely to have exposed themselves to the virus.

schoolchildren in Malawi, particularly girls, are becoming exposed to the virus through sexual harassment or abuse by their instructors.[13]

Coronavirus

Main article: COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi

Tuberculosis

It is estimated that there are more than 14% cases of tuberculosis infections worldwide in year with 9 million new cases and nearly 1.7 deaths. In 2014 the incidence of tuberculosis was 227 per 100,000 people in Malawi. The good news is that the incidence is declining by 1.5% each, however the transmission still remains high.[14]

Endemic diseases

Malaria

Malawi has made progress in

vectors to insecticides has been extensively documented in Malawi, limiting the options for indoor residual spraying and raising concern regarding the continued effectiveness of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.[15] To control malaria, the Ministry of Health's National Malaria Control Program has scaled up the distribution of artemisinin-based combination therapies, intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women using sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, and insecticide-treated nets.[15]

Maternal and child healthcare

Maternal health has improved in Malawi due to a number of factors. There has been improvement made in proportion of births attended by skilled professional. The proportion has increased from 54.8% in 1992 to 87.4% in 2014.[16] In addition to that, the maternal mortality is on the decrease though at a slower rate. Since 1990 the maternal mortality ratio has decreased from 1100 deaths per 100,000 people to 510 deaths per 100,000 people in 2013.[17] Improved access to sexual and reproductive health services has also contributed to the improvements in maternal health. Knowledge and of family planning is almost universal in Malawi with 98% of women and nearly 100% of men age 15-49 knowing at least one method of contraception.[18] Child health has also improved in Malawi. According to the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) report, the number of children dying before reaching their fifth birthday has declined, from 234 deaths per 1000 live births in 1992 to 63 deaths per 1000 live births in 2015-16.[18] Child health is an important area to focus our efforts to better the health status because children are the most vulnerable group (especially those below the age of five), and most importantly it is their right to survive and live better lives.[19] In Malawi, the child mortality rate is very high although there has been a decline over the years, from 234 deaths per 1000 live births in 1992 to 63 deaths per 1000 live births in 2015. In addition, the neonatal mortality has gone down to 27 deaths per 1000 live birth in 2004.[18]

Non-communicable diseases

The shift in the burden of disease has led to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) becoming the leading cause of death globally, most of these deaths are due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, or diabetes. Mortality from many NCDs is on the rise worldwide, with a disproportionately larger burden in low-middle income countries (LMICs), where almost 3/4 of deaths globally occur from these causes. As of 2016 NCDs are estimated to account for 31.7% of deaths in Malawi, and the numbers are on the rise in countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa.[20]

Health indicators

The CIA

health indicators compare to other countries in the world. Since the first case of HIV/AIDS in Malawi
in 1985, HIV/AIDS has drastically affected Malawi's health indicators. Malawi's rankings:[7]

Conclusion

Malawi still faces a major burden of disease both from communicable and non-communicable diseases. There is indeed progress in trying to combat these problems but a lot need to be done. There will be always problems but the country needs to establish a good way of dealing with the problems that are there, with the available resources, to prevent more loss life from preventable and treatable diseases.

See also

References

  1. ^ Scott, David (4 July 2017). "Developing pharmacy in Malawi". Pharmaceutical Journal. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  2. ^ WHO. Health Situation Health Policies and Systems. 2017;1–2. Available from: http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.cco
  3. ^ Office NS. MALAWI POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS REPORT-2018 2018 Malawi Population and Housing Main Report. 2019;(May). Available from: http://www.nsomalawi.mw/images/stories/data_on_line/demography/census_2018/2018 Malawi Population and Housing Census Main Report.pdf
  4. ^ www.healthdata.org
  5. ^ a b "GBD Compare | IHME Viz Hub".
  6. ^ "Malawi Country Overview | World Health Organization".
  7. ^ a b c d "The World Fact Book". Africa:: Malawi. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
  8. ^ "Malawi". The World Factbook. CIA. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  9. ^ Hardy EJ, Anderson BL. Communicable diseases. Semin Reprod Med. 2015;33(1):30–4.
  10. ^
    PMID 15110420
    .
  11. PMID 17110008
    .
  12. PMID 15550312
    .
  13. S2CID 154783763
    .
  14. ^ Dunca S, Nimițan E, Ailiesei O, Ștefan M. Tehnica examinării caracterelor morfologice și tinctoriale ale bacteriilor. Microbiol Apl. 2007;70–6.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Malawi" (PDF). President's Malaria Initiative. 2018. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  16. ^ file:///C:/Users/Bruker1/Downloads/MALAWI%25202014%2520GOVERNMENT%2520MDGs%2520REPORT.pdf [dead link]
  17. ^ "Gapminder Tools".
  18. ^ a b c National Statistical Office (NSO) [Malawi] and ICF. Malawi 2015-16 Demographic and Health Survey. DHS Progr [Internet]. 2015; Available from: https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR319/FR319.pdf
  19. ^ "Health".
  20. ^ Gowshall M, Taylor-Robinson SD. The increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases in low-middle income countries: The view from Malawi. Int J Gen Med. 2018;11:255–64. Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Health_in_Malawi&oldid=1169740244"