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Maternal health

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30 November 2023

Continuous testing key to preventing HIV infections in mothers

In 2021, Gertrude's world transformed into a whirlwind of happiness as she got married to a man of her dreams, setting her heart ablaze with excitement. However, it didn't take much time for her marital bliss to crumble, leaving her trapped in a living nightmare of emotional abuse. Desperate for a way out, she rea...

08 November 2023

‘With community involvement, everyone wins’

On a sunny Tuesday morning in June, Mercy Khonje safely gave birth to baby Prince at Mzokoto health centre in Rumphi District, northern Malawi.  She was happy to deliver her second child in a sanitary setting near her home.  “When I left home three days ago, I feared for my life and my unborn baby becaus...

02 November 2023

Milestones study boosts newborns care

The birth of Mariam Milazi's second child on 13 February 2022 was a day to forget. A newborn is supposed to cry within five minutes, but the baby Elvin couldn't for two days. "They put him on my belly and beat her back, but he couldn't produce the assuring cry," she recalls. The 31-year-old mother feared losing he...

Staff audit expose staffing gaps

Salome Changantuwa’s burning desire to become a midwife was virtually dashed when she spent four months in a fruit factory in a desperate escape from youth unemployment. The 25-year-old mother of one salvaged her dream in February when Chikwawa district hospital selected her as a hospital attendant. Since March 1,...

Every maternal death tells a story

Flossie Maloya could not wait to have her first baby when she arrived at Chikwawa district hospital in May, but she needed a blood transfusion following heavy bleeding. For three days, health workers constantly monitored her condition until she was ready for surgery to deliver the baby. “I’m satisfied with the tre...

Mentorship restores women’s smiles

It’s a typical sunny day in Chikwawa, a low-lying district in the Shire Valley in southern Malawi. Like other women in the maternity wing of Ngabu rural hospital, Esnart Frazer is resting in a shade with her second baby born six hours earlier. When labour kicked in, the 19-year-old mother of two, from Miseufolo ar...

13 February 2023

WASH FIT: More than infection prevention

The morning commotion at Lura Health Centre in the Rumphi district can be seen from afar. Busy mothers with their babies bundled in colourful wrappers move from one room to another, accessing the facility's various under-five services. The maternity ward is equally busy. It is filled with pregnant mothers passing ...

08 February 2023

For every child survive and thrive

Malawi is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranked 172 out of 189 countries listed on the Human Development Index in 2019.1 Some 71 per cent of the population live on less than US$1.90 per day, 2 and most people in rural communities are subsistence farmers. An estimated 61 per cent of children aged 0–17 years ...

Clean mind makes for a healthy baby

Chikondi Moses understands the importance of nutrition to unborn children. That’s why he made sure his wife got the food she needed when she became pregnant three years ago.   “I wanted my wife to be healthy for her sake as well as the child’s,” says Moses, who lives in Dedza in central Malawi. “So I granted ...

20 January 2022

Quality health care for newborns and mothers

Patricia Mattias is confident her newborn daughter Samila will soon be discharged from the critical care ward, after being born with a low birth weight and jaundice. She attributes her optimism to the quality care her baby has received from the nurses. “They have helped my baby and I a lot,” says Mattias. “My baby...

15 September 2021

Newborn and maternal health made easier

Livis Mwafulirwa is a passionate health worker. She has a degree in clinical medicine and has been working at Dedza District Hospital for two years. She starts her days at the hospital by wearing a big smile on her face. “I think it is therapeutic for patients when you smile at them.  I feel this work is a ca...

09 November 2020

Health

Our health programme at UNICEF Malawi, Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III is properly linked with regional and global UNICEF priorities (all aligned with the SDGs) UNICEF Malawi therefore, building on previous successes, use a rights-based, equity-focused and life cycle approach to young child survi...