Malawi'’s agricultural sector is critical to its economy, employing around 77% of the population and accounting for 23% of gross domestic product (GDP). The majority of workers in agriculture are smallholder farmers, many of whom cultivate less than one hectare of land. Despite its importance, the sector faces significant challenges, …
African countries have agreed to cooperate in setting limits for use of lead in paints with a view to phasing it out by 2020. This is because of its dangers to human beings, especially to children, and the environment. In a workshop jointly organised by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) …
Hail storm continues to cause havoc in Malawi as 1000 people have been made homeless in Dedza, Mzimba, Rumphi and Karonga and plants have been washed away. In Dedza, Zione Viyazi, the district department of disaster and management officer said 700 people are homeless and have lost all their property …
Government is now conceding that elephant poaching has reached unprecedented levels in Malawi national parks and game reserves forcing a high drop in tourism population in these sites. Director of Wildlife and Parks Brighton Kunchedwa said this on Monday in Blantyre during the opening of a two week workshop to …
The high prevalence of sickle haemoglobin in Africa shows that malaria has been a major force for human evolutionary selection, but surprisingly few other polymorphisms have been proven to confer resistance to malaria in large epidemiological studies. To address this problem, we conducted a multi-centre genome-wide association study (GWAS) of …
More than 2.8 million people will face hunger in the coming months in the worst food crisis in a decade in Malawi, where a staggering four out of every 10 children suffer from stunting, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today. “People in some affected districts have already …
Severe malnutrition has killed 45 under-five children in Chikwawa district in the Lower Shire as statistics also indicate that various public facilities there admitted 4, 137 children from January to June this year. Chikwawa Health office spokesperson Settie Piriminta confirmed and attributed the high cases of malnutrition to acute food …
Religious beliefs, an important element of culture, influence adaptation to climate change. Less understood is how changing beliefs shape the adaptive capacity of communities responding to climate change. In the last century sub-Saharan Africa has experienced a transformation in beliefs. Since 1900 Christians have increased 70-fold while in rural areas …
FAO and the Swedish-based development cooperation organization We Effect have agreed to work together to strengthen small-scale forest and farm producers' organizations in developing countries so they can access land and markets and improve the livelihoods of their members. A partnership agreement signed today will initially involve eight countries: Bolivia, …
The year 2015 may well go down as a landmark year, with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and some agreements at the Conference of Parties (COP) 21. Expectations from both are huge. Knowledge exchange and transfer will be key for achieving the expectations of both. For this, …
Luanda — Representatives of member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) outlined on Wednesday to Friday in Johannesburg, South Africa, strategies to combat poaching, until 2020. The meeting allowed the approval of the strategy and law enforcement and in the fight against poaching in the region, said the …
Nsanje — Nsanje district's malaria prevalence rate has hit 134 per 1, 000 people, Malawi News Agency can reveal. The information in possession shows that the most affected people are the under-five children and pregnant women. District Hospital Matron Jackson Kausiwa conceded that the district has a high prevalence rate …
Power cuts in 15 Sub-Saharan African countries could become an "exception" rather than a norm in 10 years time, with private capital expected to play an increasingly bigger role, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said in a survey on Thursday. Africa's installed power generation capacity is expected to quadruple to 380 gigawatts (GW) …
Malawi and Zambia have signed in Lusaka a power interconnection pact to boost energy capacity for the two countries.According to Malawi Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, Bright Msaka, Malawi has been negotiating for a possible of interconnection of electricity with Zambia some time ago. “We are delighted with …
Lamps provided by a Guardian-reader supported fund are brightening prospects for teachers as well as pupils in country where 90% of people live off-grid Young Kennedy is astonished. His face lights up in the single room in the straw-thatched house. So does the book he is reading with his friend, …
The Catholic Church in Malawi on Wednesday urged the government to approve a climate change policy to effectively mitigate issues of environmental degradation which contribute to climate change. The Chairperson for the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) Archbishop Thomas Msusa said during the launch of Pope Francis’s Encyclical Letter, entitled …
Malawi is preparing to participate at the forth-coming twenty first session of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) that will take place in Paris, France this coming December. Principal Secretary for Environment and Climate Change Management, Dr. Yanira Ntupanyama made the disclosure on Tuesday …
About 1.8 million Malawians are still practicing open defecation, the global health organization recent report has revealed. The report cites that the same population consists of people who do not have good toilets hence they are not hygienic. It further reveals that a good percentage of Malawians do not wash …
Malawi and Zambia on Tuesday signed a Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (TFCA) treaty to protect their common biological resources in a unique conservation and development area along the two countries’ boundaries.Malawi President Peter Mutharika said in the commercial city of Blantyre during the signing ceremony that the treaty is of mutual …
Cuba has been declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the first country worldwide to successfully stop the transmission of HIV from infected mothers to their babies. WHO has called it one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of public health achievements which followed years of efforts to …
Malawi has announced that it will effect a ban on the use of thin plastics below 60 microns by June 30, government officials said. Deputy Director for Environmental Affairs Department (EAD), Tawonga Mbale, told journalists in the capital Lilongwe on Saturday that the department delayed the ban due to court …
