As one way of equipping parents and communities with knowledge and understanding on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), Point of Progress – a local non-governmental organization – on conducted two-day community dialogue sessions with parents and community leaders from Traditional Authority Chimutu in Lilongwe.
The dialogue sessions were initiated under the organization’s project “Her Future Her Choice”.
The project seeks to provide accurate information to families regarding key issues of SRHR faced by young people as well as equip families with practical strategies and communication skills necessary to engage in meaningful dialogues with young people.
Speaking at the opening of the dialogue session on Wednesday, Point of Progress Project Manager, Sekanawo Mwatibu, expressed optimism that the project will help in eliminating early pregnancies amongst youth in the area.
Mwatibu addressing community leaders in Traditional Authority Chimutu in Lilongwe
“We expect to reach out to 4, 000 direct beneficiaries who are adolescents girls and young women including readers and parents, all getting to the total of 16,000. We intend to reach out into other districts apart from the two districts which we are currently implementing the project,” explained Mwatibu.
Group Village Headman Padzuwa emphasized the need for greater collaboration among stakeholders to ensure the battle against child and early marriages is won.
The project is being implemented with support from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) through Oxfam and they are working hand in hand with other NGOs like FPAM as well as CAVOC in Lilongwe and Balaka districts.
Malawi’s First Lady Monica Chakwera has touted education as a catalyst for the development of Malawi.
Chakwera made the sentiments in Lilongwe on Saturday when she presented a K131.7 million cheque to 12 cooperative groups from seven traditional leaders in the area of Senior Chief Masula.
The funds, provided under the Titukulane project, are part of the initiatives undertaken by the First Lady’s Shaping Our Future Foundation, in collaboration with Spark Micro-grants.
The project aims to economically empower vulnerable communities and women’s groups in rural areas, with the specific objective of ensuring that guardians are financially supported in providing education for their children.
During the event, Madam Monica Chakwera emphasized the significance of education in driving the nation’s development.
Her Excellency expressing a point during the handover of school block
She stated, “Education is crucial for our country’s progress. We must prioritize it, especially in rural areas, to ensure a brighter future for our children and the overall development of Malawi.”
Express Moyo, the Country Director of Spark Microgrants, highlighted their organization’s commitment to reaching out to rural communities, which constitute a significant portion of Malawi’s population.
Moyo explained that Spark Microgrants provides both financial and technical support to projects such as Titukulane.
The Titukulane Project was launched in 2020, with the initial focus on raising awareness about the COVID-19 pandemic among rural communities.
The project’s objectives are centred around achieving sustainable, equitable, and resilient food and nutrition security for ultra-poor and chronically vulnerable households. The project’s geographical scope may vary depending on donors and aligned activities.
The First Lady’s dedication to empowering rural communities through education and economic initiatives underscores the government’s commitment to fostering equitable development across the country.
Through collaborative efforts and support from organisations like Spark Microgrants, it is hoped that initiatives such as Titukulane will contribute to the overall socio-economic advancement of Malawi’s rural areas.
Spokesperson in the Ministry of Health, Adrian Chikumbe, told journalists on a media tour that the general picture on the ground shows that parents have responded positively to the campaign in all the districts.
“We are hopeful that we will be able to reach our targets. We hope to reach out to not less than 9 million children in this campaign, but in case we might have a few which are going to be missed during the campaign,” Chikumbe said.
He expressed excitement that there has been a significant reduction in myths and misconceptions surrounding vaccines in Malawi.
Journalists had time over the week to appreciate the immunization campaign progress in Dedza, Phalombe as well as Chikwawa districts as of day five of the campaign.
It is for the first time for the ministry to administer typhoid vaccine as in the past years those other vaccines have been administered in the country.
Parents in Dedza and Phalombe districts have given the ongoing nationwide typhoid, polio, measles and rubella immunization campaign an overwhelming response, a development that has given authorities at the Capital Hill confidence that they will achieve their goal.
In collaboration with its partners, the Ministry of Health is administering the vaccines having launched the one-week campaign in Balaka last week.
This week, the ministry has taken journalists on a tour to selected districts to appreciate the progress. Government says vaccines are the most effective and surest way of preventing preventable diseases.
A Health Surveillance Assistant administering vaccine on a baby in Dedza
The journalists on tour have already been to Dedza and Phalombe districts where parents have given the campaign enormous support by taking their children to be vaccinated in their respective designated places.
Senior Health Surveillance Assistant (SHSA) at Chongoni Health Centre, Austin Chapotera, described the campaign as a great milestone.
“We have started well in our duties as we already done a good job in mobilization as chiefs and community people have been told through some organized rallies about the impact of getting these vaccines, and so far in two days we have reached at least 60 above children and mostly are getting the Typhoid vaccine and we hope as we go on the turn up will be increasing, we are pretty sure about that, so far we have not registered any case of typhoid within our catchment area,” Chapotera said.
Global cancer specialists have called for concerted efforts to eliminate breast and cervical cancer, which accounts for 51.5 deaths per 100, 000 per year.
Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at America Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Dr. Julie Gralow made the call in Lilongwe on Friday at the opening of the 7th Africa Breast and cervical cancer advocacy summit, which took place in Lilongwe.
The Women’s Coalition Against Cancer (WOCACA) hosted the two-day meeting in collaboration with the Women Empowerment Cancer Advocacy Network (WE CAN). The meeting ended on Saturday.
In an interview with journalists, Gralow asked the Ministry of Health in Malawi and its development partners to triple efforts in eliminating the disease.
Dr. Gralow: Countries need to do more to end cancer
She disclosed that breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. She, however, stated that cancer is no longer the leading cause of death because in “many countries that we have screened it is survivable”.
“But breast cancer and cervical cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa are number one and two some countries cervical cancer is more deadly and in others breast cancer is also more deadly but they are number one and two and cervical cancer is very uncommon in the United States because we do screening starting from the young girls,” said Gralow.
ASCO is propagating advocacy about breast cancer in about 10 countries in the African region where it is introducing and empowering them to identify a solution to breast cancer problems.
It also promotes education and research through an organization.
“We call upon collaboration and partnerships, we can’t do it alone, I don’t know what works best here, but my colleagues know what can work best here. It is true that even in some of the countries where they do screening, some choose not to do it, some because they don’t know where to go and some they are just afraid. But the best solution is to introduce them to women like those that are here who are powerful and they can say I am a cancer survivor, and you can also survive cancer, I like the Zambia motto, they talk about today in social media storytelling, that motto should cross-borders and support each other and say don’t be afraid,” she stated.
A gynecologist at Kamuzu Central Hospital, Dr. Lameck Chinula, said cervical and breast cancers are serious public health issues amongst Malawian women and they are the most common cancer diseases that kill more women.
Dr Chinula: Cancer is a serious public health problem
However, Chinula said Malawi has, over the years, registered increased efforts in reducing the huge burden of cervical and breast cancer.
In her remarks, WOCACA chairperson Charity Salima said the meeting availed Malawi an opportunity to learn best practices in the fight against the disease.
Salima: This is an important meeting
“After this summit we are going to sit down and see what is it we have done, now we will learn lessons from what we have done, what is it we have not did well and what is it we have done well, what we should do so that we should progress forward, it’s a learning situation,” Salima said.
WE CAN organization started in 2003 in Ukraine and they came to East Africa in 2013 in Uganda with the idea of bringing together the advocates for breast and cervical cancer in order to network them in the elimination of these diseases.
Malawi is satisfied with the progress of construction works for the 400 KV power lines that will be used to tap power from Mozambique as part of the Malawi-Mozambique Power Interconnector.
On Wednesday, Consul General Happy Saka visited a construction site in Mutarara in Tete Province where the contractor has started digging holes for the high-voltage electricity pylons.
Saka said the project will help Malawi to tap 120 megawatts from Mozambique which will greatly improve power supply to Malawi.
“Uninterrupted and reliable power supply is what the Chakwera government is striving to achieve as soon as possible so we are able to power homes and businesses for accelerated development.
“I am pleased with the progress that I saw. I am sure by December we will be at a very advanced stage in terms of having these power lines completed,” said Saka.
Saka’s visit comes ahead of the visit by Malawi’s Minister of Energy who is expected in the area to inspect progress.
The works are expected to be completed by December 2023.
The project is being carried out by Lansen & Toubro Limited and Gora Civil Engineering & Building Contractors.
A local non-governmental organization – Point of Progress (PoP) – has embarked on an ambitious project aimed at eliminating child marriages in Malawi.
The organization has since rolled out a project dubbed ‘Girls Get Equal’ with financial support from Plan International Malawi.
Speaking on the sidelines of a panel discussion at Chiwamba Trading Centre in the area of Traditional Authority Chimutu in Lilongwe, PoP project officer, Henderson Phiri, said their interventions aim to contribute to national efforts to tackle child marriages and promote equality among men and women.
Phiri addressing participants at the discussion
“The function of PoP in GGE project is to foster a two-prolonged approach to changing discriminatory norms by engaging with gatekeepers and society in general as well as to empower children, adolescents and the youths (CAYs) to be agents of changes towards gender equality and child rights,” said Phiri.
He said his organization observed some gaps in the fight against child marriages. Phiri highlighted lack of proper coordination among stakeholders such as the police, chiefs and Child Protection Committees (CPCs) as one of the challenges facing the fight.
A cross-section of the participants to the workshop
“The project was implemented in 2020 and is expected to run up to 2024, which means the project is for four years. Mostly we do face resistance to change by community influences, particularly in issues to do with transforming cultural practices that are fueling child marriages, for instance I can sight the example of ‘Gule Wamkulu’, we have been facing a lot of problems in terms of changing there syllabuses that they should adhere to school calendars and the like,” he narrated.
Group Village Headman Nsambila 1 said the project has helped reduce cases of early marriages in his area.
The project targets 21, 760 CAYs as direct beneficiaries in Mulanje, Phalombe, and Lilongwe.
So far, 17, 660 children have benefited from the project whereby 995 children have been returned to school, with 361 of them receiving school materials and 31 girls receiving seed supplies for income-generating activities in order for them to remain in school. Above all 349 children have been withdrawn from child marriages.
Health workers in Machinga have described the ongoing Malaria Vaccination Programme as a game-changer in the fight against malaria in the district.
Machinga is one of the districts benefiting from the programme, which the Malawi Government and development partners such as PATH Organization are implementing through the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI).
Speaking to journalists on a tour to the districts on the EPI programme, Disease Control Surveillance Assistant at Mlomba Health Centre, Patrick Makaika, applauded the government for the routine vaccination campaign, saying it has boosted the fight against the disease.
Makaika disclosed that cases of malaria infection have significantly gone down since the programme rolled out in the district.
An HSA administering routine malaria vaccine at Machinga District Hospital
“The percentage of malaria cases is now going down since we started this exercise. We can attribute this to the availability of resources that are required for the administration of all vaccines starting from the first dose to the forth one,” he said.
But Makaika expressed concern over inconsistency in the administration of the vaccines.
He said after the first dose, it takes close to 22 months to administer the second dose.
Cecilia Kamgwegwe, Health Surveillance Assistant at Machinga District Hospital, commended parents for bringing their children forward to get vaccinated.
“We have hope that as we go along the numbers will also be increasing, as right now we do have outreach meetings with other under five clinics that are outside this facility, and the response is also positive,” said Kamgwegwe.
One of the parents, Rose Nyadank from Chimela Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Nsanama, urged her fellow parents to ignore myths and misconceptions surrounding vaccines.
Founder of Life International Church, Prophet Amos Kambale, last week displayed strange powers of healing, delivering and prophesying when he performed unbelievable miracles during the Passover Night of Prayers his church organized in Lilongwe.
The night conference took place on Good Friday at the church’s venue at Mbinzi Community Day Secondary School located in Area 3.
One of the participants, a lady who had come all the way from Blantyre to attend the Friday Passover Miracle Night, could not believe when Prophet Kambale prophesied to her about her falling marriage.
Kambale told her the challenges they had been going through to the extent that the husband was about to leave the house.
Filled with joy of disbelief, the woman took out from her bag a shirt of her husband so that the prophet could touch.
When she went back to Blantyre the following day, the woman was shocked to see the husband wearing a happy face and ready to welcome her. In fact, the elated husband prepared water for her to bathe, cooked for her and bought all groceries and necessities in the house something he never did for months.
The same man who previously was stopping his wife from attending church services initiated that they together went to church the following day on Sunday, 9th April! The marriage is now fully restored with love flowing like fire.
Within the same night a single mother who wanted marriage so much got a marriage proposal by SMS from a business fellow! Also, a Sunday before, right in church service a young man was called for a job interview of which he secured the job within the week.
Prophet Kambale praying for the healing of a woman with a strange sickness
Another woman, Chrissy Chisuse, came all the way from Ntcheu. She was the first to arrive at the church venue at around 3 pm for a meeting that was billed to start at 6 pm.
She had pains in all her legs and joints. She was not able to sit down for long and walking was a problem. Medical and traditional doctors could not relieve her of the pains she was constantly experiencing.
A friend of hers “Bertha from Ntcheu” told her about Prophet Kambale and she made it her purpose to visit the church during the Passover Miracle Night conference on 7th April.
Immediately after being prayed for by Prophet Kambale she received her healing. She was able to move around the church without pain. Thank you Jesus, you are the Healer that we know.
During this same night, several people testified that they were healed just the moment they entered the church hall without being prayed for.
During the same night the prophet also launched his website amoskambale.com which also chronicles miracles under the iTestify menu.
Prophet Amos Kambale claims that he can heal any disease by the power of God anytime. He claims to have healed people from HIV, cancer even raised the dead.
As one way of improving crop diversification, productivity as well as increased income and food security among Malawi smallholder farmers, the Center for Agricultural Transformation (CAT), has advised farmers to use improved seeds to increase output.
CAT sounded the advice during a farmers field day held at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources- NRC campus. The field day was organized to enable farmers to appreciate and adapt to the new farming technologies.
CAT is an inclusively science, technology and business incubation centre of excellence that helps smallholder Malawian farmers make economically viable, data driven for diversifying their livelihoods.
CAT officials addressing farmers in Lilongwe
CAT is made possible by a five-year grant (2019-2024) from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW) through its affiliate, the Agricultural Transformation Initiative (ATI).
In his remarks, CAT Executive Director Macleod Nkhoma said they are training farmers on how they can improve their soils to maximize productivity.
Nkhoma observed that the majority of the farmers were growing their crops on soils that were extremely poor and degraded so that they had to do soil amendment through a soil scientist and the soils improved so that the yields have come back.
“It is very crucial for farmers to appreciate as you have seen that in the world today the inorganic fertilizers have short up so what we are encouraging farmers is that they can make their own organic fertilizers and we have partners like NASFAM as well as Green Fields they actually help farmers on how they can make their own cheaper fertilizers and you have appreciated that NASFM they are making fertilizers known as mbeya using local materials so it is very possible that our farmers can still make good yields on the same unit of land utilizing these cheap fertilizers that can make on their own. I would like to thank our funders, the Foundation for Smoke Free Word- ATI, which gives funding for us to be able to showcase various technologies to our farmers,” he said.
CAT officials addressing farmers in Lilongwe–Photo by Wilfred Golden
Country Director for ATI and vice president for FSFW, Candida Nakhumwa, said as the pillar number one of Malawi 2063 is focusing on agricultural productivity and commercialization they realized that they cannot be talking of productivity and commercialization if they do not integrate science and technology.
Nakhumwa noted that most farmers were not paying much attention to productivity.
Sheila Kang’ombe, programme manager for Lilongwe ADD, said she was impressed with the strides CAT is making in promoting agricultural diversification in line with climate change.
“It is very necessary to bring farmers together as they appreciate what is happening here, as what we are doing here is demonstrating on how farmers are suppose to be doing in there gardens so when they come and see how the crops are performing it really helps because they will go back and do what they have seen,” she said.
CAT is implemented as a consortium comprising four leading agricultural development and academic institutions, which are Land O’Lakes Venture37, University of Minnesota, Stellenbosch University and Malawi University of Science.
LUANAR hosts the two CAT Smart Farms at its Bunda and NRC campuses.
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