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Malawi
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Total Population = 12,884,000
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Population growth rate: 2.2% |
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Infant mortality rate: 110 deaths/1,000 live births |
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GNI per capita: $170 USD |
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Adult literacy rate (age 15 and over can read and write): 64.1% |
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Life expectancy at birth: |
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- total population: 41.5 years
- male: 41 years
- female: 42 years
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HIV/AIDS |
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- adult prevalence rate: 14.2% (2003 est.)
- people living with HIV/AIDS: 900,000 (2003 est.)
- deaths: 84,000 in 2003
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Located in Southern Africa, just east of Zambia, Malawi is one of the poorest nations in the world. The country suffers from one of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics globally with around one million people infected, more than the total number in Europe and North America combined (Malawi Economic Brief, 2005). AIDS has become the leading cause of death in Malawi for adults 20-49, with about 110,000 new cases occurring annually each year (Malawi National AIDS Commission, 2003). As a result of the AIDS epidemic, earlier gains in life expectancy have been reversed, and life expectancy at birth has fallen from around 45 years in 1990 to around 37 years today (WHO, 2004). The principle mode of HIV transmission is heterosexual contact (85%) followed by mother-to-child transmission (11%). High population mobility, gender inequity, social stigma associated with HIV, food shortages, and poverty form contextual elements figure into the spread of HIV (Kesby, 2000, Sussner and Stein, 2000, Garbus, 2003).
For more information on AIDS in Malawi, visit UNAIDS.
References
Garbus, L. (2003). HIV/AIDS in Malawi . Country AIDS Policy Analysis Project. AIDS Policy Research Center University of California San Francisco . March 2003.
Kesby, M. (2000). Participatory diagramming as a means to improve communication about sex in rural Zimbabwe : a pilot study. Social Science & Medicine 50, 1723-1741.
Malawi Economic Brief. (2005). Analytical Services Division. Financial and Central Services Department, The Scottish Executive.
Malawi National AIDS Commission. (2003). A National Estimate of HIV/AIDS in Malawi in 2003. (Pamphlet).
Malawi Global Fund Coordinating Committee. (2002) The National Response to HIV/AIDS. Proposal to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
Ministry of Health and Population. (1999). Malawi fourth national health plan, 1999-2004. Lilongwe, Malawi: Author. Mooneyhan, E.L., McElmurry, B.J., Sofranko, M.S., & Campos, A.B.
Muula AS , Mfutso-Bengo JM, Makoza J, Chatipwa E (2003) The ethics of developed nations recruiting nurses from developing countries: The case of Malawi , Nurse Ethics , 10: 433-8.
Susser, I. & Stein, Z. (2000). Culture, sexuality, and women's agency in the prevention of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa . American Journal of Public Health , 90, 1042-1048.
Last Updated: December, 2005
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