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Communities warned against denying certain foods to type-1 sugar patients
By Steve Chirombo
Dedza, December 12, Mana: The Non Communicable Disease (NCD) Coordinator for Dedza District Health Office has warned parents and guardians against the tendency of denying certain foods to type-1 sugar patients, saying the trend is contributing to stunted growth thereby resulting into more malnutrition levels in the district.
The NCD Coordinator, James Manda, told Malawi News Agency on Monday in an interview that unlike the type-2 sugar patients whose cells in pancreas become dormant and are advised to always be on oral drugs, the type-1 sugar patients are allowed to eat anything as long as they inject themselves 30 minutes before taking a particular food.
Said Manda: “This is so because type-1 sugar patients lack insulin and if they have injected themselves the insulin 30 minutes before the meal, they can eat anything they want because if we forbid them taking some foods, they can experience stunted growth that can end in malnutrition.”
According to Manda, the type-1 sugar disease is common in people of age ranges from five to 30 while type-2 sugar disease is common in those above 30 years.
He further said their main worry lies on some wrong messages, especially on health diet for type-1 sugar patients who are not allowed to eat some foods that are important like meat and other sugary drinks.
“We believe this results from myths within the communities and there could be some health workers disseminating this information in a wrong way. Injection in type-1 sugar patients depends on how many times one takes food. If it’s three times a day, then the patients should inject themselves 30 minutes before taking any food,” emphasized Manda.
He cited frequent urination, increased thirst and frequent hunger as common signs calling on communities to visit the hospital for screening or tests once they experience these.
Slamming the door in the face of malnutrition
By Chilungamo Missi
Blantyre, December 12, Mana: Fanny Burton from Mwaluza Village in Traditional Authority Ndanga in Mulanje nearly lost her second pregnancy which was almost due. Malnutrition could have been a contributing factor and would have been regrettable.
“I had severe nausea and vomiting, visual disturbance, and swelling on top of having a low body mass index compared to pregnant women of my age,” explains 32-year-old Burton.
Due to this, everyone, including Burton’s relatives, in the village had lost hope that she would deliver a healthy child.
The community’s fear was justified as malnutrition, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), could have dangerous and irreversible consequences on children’s survival, growth, learning, and future earning capacity.
Globally, 51 million children under the age of 2 are stunted and UNICEF estimates that half of them become stunted during pregnancy and the first six months of life when a child is fully dependent on the mother for nutrition.
Thanks to the Afikepo Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture which was introduced in her area. The project being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and UNICEF, in collaboration with Malawi Government, is a multi-sectoral effort that integrates agriculture, health, and nutrition actions to address the problem of food and nutrition insecurity.
The implementation of interventions that increase availability, access, and utilization of diversified foods at the household level, in turn, leads to improved dietary intake of diversified, safe, and nutritious foods among women of childbearing age, adolescent girls, infants, and young children.
Burton, therefore, enrolled in the Community Complementary Feeding and Learning Sessions (CCFLS) under the Afikepo project in 2017 after being identified by the Health Surveillance Assistants (HSA) in the area.
“The HSA advised me to prepare nutritious foods,” she says, adding: “With no time, my weight and health status improved amicably, and I delivered a strong baby.”
However, taking a close look at her daughter, today, now six years old, playing with her friends, Burton is elated.
Currently, Burton is also expecting another child and she strives to eat nutritious diet adequately as she doesn’t want a repeat of what she experienced earlier.
The case of Burton is not isolated as several other expectant women and under-five children were wallowing in similar predicaments.
Rhoda Namboya, 37, from Group Village Head Kukada, recalls how her six-month child was saved from the pangs of malnutrition, locally blamed on poor food preparation.
“This is my sixth child, the way she looked at that time was different from her friends as she was not growing properly. She was found with severe malnutrition during the mass screening exercise under the Afikepo Project.
“When I heard that she was suffering from malnutrition, I lost hope, but I was encouraged by an Afikepo Project promoter from our area who facilitated the enrolment of my child in the CCFLS, and her health improved tremendously within 12 days,” testifies Namboya.
Edah Chikwindi, a nutrition promoter for Afikepo in the area, says she is happy that cases of malnutrition in the area are declining after introducing the project.
“We conduct mass screening exercises and children who are underweight are enrolled in feeding sessions. We prepare porridge, which is made from a mixture of m’gaiwa, groundnuts, vegetables, eggs, and cooking oil.
“When we screen the children again after 12 days, we find that they are no longer malnourished. This was the case with Namboya’s child,” she says.
Chikwindi adds that parents are also urged to practice such cooking practices in their respective homes to ensure that their children continue to live healthily.
The project also brought vegetable seeds and orange maize for the communities under the project’s catchment area to plant in their gardens and ensure that they are food secure.
She says: “Through the project, we were also given tree seedlings which we planted in our gardens to promote the restoration of the environment and combat land degradation.
“We understand there is looming hunger but, in this area, we are using new farming technologies that Afikepo inculcated in us and we always have a bumper yield from a small piece of land. We do not run out of orange maize, beans, peas, and groundnuts. We also practice poultry farming and other livestock to supplement our diet.”
An HAS from Kambenje Health Centre, Maureen Kausiwa, concurs with Chiwindi, noting that growing crops and practicing animal husbandry go a long way in reducing malnutrition levels in the area.
Kausiwa emphasises that it is the goal of the health sector to fully curb stunting.
“Since the inception of Afikepo in 2017, we have reached out to 760 houses in this village to identify households that have children suffering from malnutrition. We go door-to-door together with care group and cluster leaders who monitor their fellow women to see if they are properly breastfeeding their children and practising desirable water, sanitation, and hygiene.
“Since we identified four girls and three boys with malnutrition last year, this area has not registered another case during our mass screening exercise where we measured Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) which also makes us proud that there is a positive impact in the area in as far as Afikepo project is concerned,” she says.
Kausiwa challenges that even if the Afikepo project comes to an end, people in the area will continue to practise what they were taught, saying knowledge is the best gift that can empower people in the communities than projects that offer monetary support, observing that such projects lack sustainability when they come to an end.
She adds that previously people in the area used to believe in myths and misconceptions regarding malnutrition but the project has brought about a mindset change.
Mulanje District Manager for FAO, Misheck Mwambakulu, says Malawi is one of the countries with the highest percentages of children that are stunted, pointing out that the Afikepo project was primarily introduced to address the problem.
He says Malawi was at 36% in terms of children who were stunted when the project was starting, noting that equally, Mulanje District was at 36 percent, a situation which prompted Afikepo interventions, making the district one of the impact areas to ensure that the levels of stunting were reduced.
Mwambakulu adds that Afikepo interventions are aimed at making sure that under-five children, pregnant and lactating women as well as adolescent girls are consuming food that is adequate with nutrients to nip any form of malnutrition.
Journalists challenged to write more on WASH
By Moses Nyirenda
Lilongwe, December 12, Mana: Water and Environmental Sanitation Network (WESNET) Executive Director Willies Mwandira has challenged journalists in the country to write more stories on issues concerning Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in a quest to assist in addressing challenges affecting the WASH sector in the country.
Speaking on Tuesday at Capital Hotel in Lilongwe during media breakfast meeting for journalists under the banner ‘WASH Media Forum’, which was organized by WESNET, Mwandira said journalists have influence in promoting WASH related issues.
“As we all know that currently we are almost midway as we are approaching the year 2030 when we would like to achieve some Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
“For this reason, we feel media people are very critical when it comes to influencing some of the decisions from key authorities in terms of pushing the agendas on WASH,” Mwandira said.
Asked what prompted the media breakfast meeting, Mwandira said the meeting was organized to enhance the interaction among journalists who are passionate about writing WASH stories.
“The meeting was all about journalists who have got passion in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Malawi and they got a forum called WASH Media Forum and we thought that we should provide them an opportunity to interact as media practitioners on issues of water and sanitation in Malawi,” he said.
He also said that WESNET is eager to motivate journalists to write more on WASH, adding there will be awards for best WASH story writers, among other things.
Commenting on the matter, WASH Media Forum Chairperson Raphael Mweninguwe applauded WESNET for organizing the media breakfast meeting.
“The meeting was important because it brought together a team of journalists from different media organizations that are passionate about writing WASH related stories.
“The breakfast meeting gave us a platform as journalists to interact and express some of the challenges that we are facing when we are doing our work,” Mweninguwe said.
AIP beneficiaries promise to use inputs for intended purpose
By James Kanyenda
Lilongwe, December 11, MANA: Affordable Input Programme (AIP) beneficiaries in the country have vowed not to sell their inputs to vendors but use them to eradicate hunger at household level.
Speaking to Malawi News Agency (Mana) recently, AIP beneficiaries in Salima, Nkhotakota, Kasungu and Ntchisi spoke against the tendency and advised fellow beneficiaries to refrain from malpractice.
Meston Mawunda, a first-time beneficiary from Group Village Head (GVH) Nkhwali, Traditional Authority (TA) Khombedza in Salima district said she is ready to apply fertilizer in her maize field this farming season and is looking forward to a food secured household after a bumper harvest.
“We really have people who upon getting informed that they will benefit from the AIP, they immediately get money from vendors promising to give them fertilizer once the programme starts, this has made households face hunger.
I have advised others before not to venture into this after noting its consequences and I continue to advise every beneficiary in Malawi not to venture into this,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Jali Malola of Mtondo village, TA Khombedza, Salima disclosed that their village headman in collaboration with the Village Development Committee (VDC) would embark on a monitoring exercise this farming season to ensure every AIP beneficiary uses the inputs for the intended purpose.
“They formulated bylaws which call for punishment to anyone who will misuse the inputs,” added Jali, while calling upon other villages in the country to emulate.
Diana Mbale, of Bango Village, TA Mwadzama, Nkhotakota said the current maize price should move the beneficiaries to use AIP fertilizer and seed to produce enough for their households to avoid struggling next year, saying if they ignore the advice, they would face hunger.
Geoffrey Chikaonda, another beneficiary from Damba village, TA Mwadzama, Nkhotakota described those who sell affordable inputs as enemies of progress and they need to change their mindset.
A Kasungu based beneficiary, Loveness Phiri from Vijumo village under TA Mwase advised fellow beneficiaries to endure all challenges that may push them to sell their inputs, saying the endurance, proper utilisation of the inputs will see their households experiencing bumper yields come harvesting season.
Sebinati Moyenda from Bondo village, TA Chilowamatambe said those engaged in selling inputs under AIP defy government as they go against the objective which government established the programme for.
Monica Mwale, from Mbizo village, TA Chikho, in Ntchisi district said households who sell the inputs deny themselves right to have sufficient food which government grants them through AIP.
AIP Desk Officer for Salima Agriculture Development Division (ADD) which covers Salima and Nkhotakota districts Lonzo Chirwa acknowledged that there are farmers who sell inputs to vendors, although the programme wants beneficiaries to utilise the inputs for food production in their households.
“If households are food secure, then the country will also be food secure, and as a result government will no longer channel its resources towards relief maize purchase but will use them in other important sectors of development for the country’s progress,” he said.
Chirwa said as Salima ADD, they will intensify monitoring to ensure farmers use AIP fertilizer for its intended purpose, the same will be done by Kasungu ADD whose districts it covers, include Kasungu and Ntchisi
It has been noted that some beneficiaries used to sell their inputs to vendors and in the end experience poor harvest resulting into endless hunger in their households. which would lead to food security at community as well as national level.
Bishop calls for stiff punishment for GBV perpetrators
By Wanangwa Tembo
Kasungu, December 11, Mana: Presiding Bishop for Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi (ELCM), Joseph Bvumbwe has appealed to the courts to help the fight against gender violence (GBV) by meting out stiff sentences to perpetrators.
Bvumbwe said it is worrying that there are rampant cases of violence in families as people no longer get scared with the sentences that the courts give out.
He was speaking in Kasungu on Saturday when he led a march of the ELCM faithfuls who later presented a petition to Kasungu District Council asking government to do more on the fight against gender based violence in families.
The march was part of the church’s activities towards the 16 days of activism against GBV which was being observed under the theme ‘Unite! Invest to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls. The campaign ended Sunday.
The Bishop said: “It is in families where there must be peace. Unfortunately that is not the case. All we see is violence in the families and the victims are mostly children and women. It’s sad.
That is why as a church, we decided to take to the street to add to the voices that speak against violence. We thought we should do something because we believe our messages have some impact.”
He said the country has witnessed “unfortunate and shameful” acts where fathers sleep with their own daughters, young girls are forced to marry and husbands beat their wives and in some cases injuring or killing them.
“Where do people get the courage to kill others? We must look at the laws and ensure that they respond to the situation in Malawi. In the context of our country, we need laws that prescribe heavy punishments to offenders.
No one has the right to kill another person. So we are also calling on all relevant stakeholders and authorities to intensify teaching our people that they must respect life. We can do better,” Bvumbwe said.
Receiving the petition on behalf of the District Commissioner, Kasungu Director of Planning and Development Annie Zimba said the council is committed to ensuring that cases of violence are reduced.
“We will send the petition to the authorities so that the raised issues are addressed. On our part as a council, we are doing our best to collaborate with relevant partners to reduce these cases,” she said.
At least 35 percent of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years have experienced violence in the country, while 42 percent of women aged 20 to 24 were married before the age of 18, studies show.
Catholic men encouraged to remain steadfast in faith
By Arnold Namanja
Blantyre, December 11, Mana: Father Superior for Saints Peter and Paul (Chilobwe) in Blantyre, Fr. Davison Salamba has challenged the Catholic Men Organisation (CMO) to remain steadfast in their faith amid a myriad of socio-economic challenges in life today.
Salamba was speaking on Saturday during an Advent Retreat/Recollection for the CMO at Chiolbwe Parish in the Blantyre Archdiocese.
The theme of the retreat was drawn from Revelations 3:20; ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.’
He said the current social and economic challenges may put one’s faith to the taste, noting that it is only through prayer and perseverance that one can navigate the tide in life
“We need to continue making efforts aimed at being identified by Jesus Christ because our Christianity is met with stiff competition due to our little faith,” Salamba said.
He added that the Advent season provides Christians with an opportunity to recollect on their spiritual life to stand ready and wealth at the coming of Christ Jesus during Christmas.
“Retreat or recollection can be likened to a war situation whereby soldiers pose for a while to examine how the fight is progressing; similarly, Christians need to find time to do introspection and renew their relationship with God every now and then,” he added.
Salamba observed that the Christian journey is quite often tiresome and challenging; hence, the need for the faithful to detach from any noise to discern the voice of God through prayer.
Quoting Luke 5:1-7, Salamba said just like Simon Peter and the other disciples, men sometimes also give up in life and feel frustrated when they cannot make it in life and meet certain obligations as a result of various economic hiccups.
“Statistics show that all the suicide cases being reported about men and young men as due to frustrations in life. However, when everything seems to be not working out Jesus calls on us in Mark 6: 45-61 that we should not be afraid because it is him who stands by us in times of need,” he added.
Salamba, therefore, encouraged the CMO to find time within their busy schedules to pray, saying a prayer has the potential of moving mountains, adding: “God respects us when we work but loves us when we pray; in fact, prayer is more powerful than a gun. We ought to pray to grow in our faith.”
In his remarks, Chilobwe Parish Council Chairperson, Harris Kachale thanked Fr. Salamba for conducting the retreat, noting that it would go a long way in taking on board the CMO as an active group in evangelisation.
“This is a very rare opportunity. In most occasions such retreats are conducted in large groups without necessarily segregating the faithful according to gender,” he said.
Kachale said the recollection was an important activity for the parish especially coming at a time of Advent when Christians particularly Catholics are awaiting the coming of Jesus Christ as Christmas.
Innocent Namwiri. Vice Chairperson of CMO at St. Agness Small Christian Community which is Chilobwe Parish, also commended the parish priest for holding the spiritual retreat and he encouraged men in the parish to be proactive and dedicate their time and resources towards the church.
Catholics are in the second week of Advent which started last week usually observed in most Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the return of Christ at the second coming.
Roundtable Dwangwa 69, to assist learners with disabilities in Nkhotakota
By Wongani Mkandawire
Nkhotakota, December 11, Mana: A social networking and charitable movement called "Roundtable Dwangwa 69" has expressed commitment to address challenges learners with disabilities are facing at Nkhotakota Resource Centre.
Speaking on Sunday during Pre-Christmas celebration and donation to learners at the centre, Chairperson for Dwangwa 69, Dyson Mpeketula said their movement will continue to assist the centre with different support such as linking them up with local and international sponsors to fulfil their dreams.
"We are here having a meal together with them but we are looking for transformation of projects that will change their lives forever," said Mpekutula.
In his remarks, Head teacher for Nkhotakota LEA primary school Ability Chioza Mashikizo described the celebration as timely adding that the donation will go a long way in addressing some of the challenges like basic needs for the learners.
One of the learners with disabilities, Andrea Chabwera asked well-wishers and other organisations to assist them with learning materials and other daily needs.
The Roundtable Dwangwa 69 pumped in K500, 000 for Pre-Christmas celebration with learners with disabilities and donated assorted food items at the centre.
During the event, it was discovered that the school lacks better infrastructure including hostels which leave learners with no choice but to put up in dilapidated rooms for lack of better options
Taming ‘ecosystem engineers’ of Kasungu National Park
By Wanangwa Tembo
Kasungu, December 11, Mana: Up to early 1990s, Kasungu National Park, the country’s second largest after Nyika, had the largest elephant population in Malawi with over 2 000 individuals roaming freely in the vastness of the protected area.
“This was also the case with most of the other species like buffalo, kudu, sable and hartebeest,” Park Manager, Ndaona Kumanga explains.
However, at the beginning of the new millennium, poachers from the surrounding communities and beyond invaded the park with blazing muzzleloaders shooting game, especially, buffaloes and elephants for both meat and trophies.
By 2015, the elephant population had plummeted down to only about 200, rendering the park unattractive to tourists as animal sighting spiraled to lowest levels.
“This is the period poaching was at its peak owing to lapses in security largely due to lack of funding.
“Again this is the time the buffer zone which averaged 2.1 kilometres in thickness was invaded and cleared for charcoal, settlements and farming,” Kumanga says.
Historically, the park used to be a dwelling place for people who lived on hunting and their settlement continued well into the 20th century before the place was proclaimed Fort Alston Forest Reserve in 1922 and later a game reserve in 1930.
Signs of old village sites are still clearly visible today alongside Iron Age artefacts in form of iron kilns and the famous Solonje rock paintings.
Thus, the invasion of the park for livelihood by the surrounding communities could as well be understood as a hangover of an old lifestyle.
Nevertheless, these actions threaten the future of the park, where not only the country’s largest Miombo woodland sits, but also where ecosystem engineers – as elephants are called for their large contribution to ecosystem balancing – roam.
Following its declaration as a national park in 1970, government gazetted a buffer zone adjacent to the park’s south-eastern boundary to limit cultivation, planting, cutting, building, carrying firearms and starting fires.
Averaging 2.1 kilometres in thickness and about 75 kilometres in length, the buffer zone has long been cleared for settlements and cultivation.
According to Central Region Parks and Wildlife Division Manager, Leonard Moyo, efforts to save Kasungu National Park became more realistic in 2016 when his department entered into a partnership with International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
“We partnered with IFAW in 2016 and their coming has helped a lot in securing the park such that around 2021, we were convinced that the park had finally been fortified.
“This is why in 2022, IFAW supported us to translocate at least 694 animal species including 263 elephants from Liwonde to Kasungu in a restocking programme to boost the numbers of the key wildlife species,” Moyo says.
He says high poverty levels amongst some communities surrounding the park is still posing a threat to conservation efforts and the future of the protected area, stressing that poverty has for a long time forced people to view the park as a source of their livelihood.
Kasungu National Park is surrounded by nine traditional authorities namely Lukwa, Kaphaizi, Lukwa, Mwase, Nthunduwala, Mawawa, Chulu, Chisinga and Kawamba.
“We don’t want to slide back to the sad past. This time we are carrying out various initiatives to support the surrounding communities to build their resilience so that they stop relying on the park products for their livelihood,” Moyo says.
Under these initiatives, communities have been trained in climate smart agriculture so that they boost their crop production and become food secure. In addition, the communities have been given free tree and crop seeds.
“We sent lead farmers for training in Zambia so that they learn how our colleagues are doing that side.
“We have also provided these lead farmers with bicycles to ease their mobility as they go round communities training others,” Moyo says.
The department has also donated at least 800 beehives which will be put both inside and outside the park as an alternative income generating activity for the communities.
With its ‘Room to Roam’ vision, IFAW is extensively supporting wildlife conservation efforts for Africa’s surviving savannah elephants including those at Kasungu National Park and the human communities with which they share the land and its resources.
Gervaz Thamala is the Field Operations Manager for IfFAW. He says the future of Kasungu National Park lies in the hands of an understanding community that appreciates the importance of co-existing with the animals.
“The people that kill the animals, cut trees and destroy the fence, live in the surrounding communities. Our efforts will be in vain if we don’t support them,” he says.
Thamala, says there is need to arrest activities that threaten the future of the park by ensuring co-existence of animals and the people.
“The people must not be a burden to animals through such activities as poaching and cutting trees thereby destroying the habitat for animals. Equally the animals must not be a burden to people.
“We are erecting a perimeter fence to keep the animals in the park so that they don’t destroy people’s gardens. At the same time we are coming with new initiatives supporting the communities so that they don’t invade the park for livelihood,” he says.
There have been clashes between communities surrounding the park and elephants in recent times. At least six people have been killed so far with several gardens of crops and houses destroyed.
The elephant’s invasion of homes and gardens is said to have increased the people’s antagonistic behaviours towards the beasts and the park at large.
Under the same initiative, the park authorities have also started constructing elephant proof granaries so that in case of elephants’ invasion, the grain that has already been harvested is protected.
“We expect that people will form clubs or cooperatives and will be keeping their produce at one place. So we are supporting them with storage infrastructure that is free from the threat of elephants.
“We hope all these initiatives put together make a serious statement on our resolve to protect both the park and the surrounding communities,” Thamala says.
Elephants being large herbivores, eat up to 150 kilograms of forage and drink up to 190 litres of water a day. They must navigate across large areas to find enough food and water to survive.
However, as climate change raises temperatures and changes rainfall patterns, resources become even more scarce and elephants get pushed into new areas, including communal lands where they destroy crops and houses.
The problem has been exacerbated by cultivation of crops along the park boundary and inadequate perimeter fencing which is only covering an 88-kilometre distance, leaving a stretch of at least 40 kilometres open.
Group Village Head Jambulani Nkhoma of Traditional Authority Lukwa says there must be a cordial working relationship between park authorities and communities so that conservation efforts are successful.
She says communities must accept that the park was established for purpose and that they must protect it.
“We have failed to plant trees and now our eyes are on the park. The park will not solve our problems if we don’t plant trees and adopt new farming methods in face of the changing climate,” she says.
Ecologically, Kasungu National Park is the catchment for Dwangwa River that flows east to Lake Malawi through the densely populated Kasungu District, sustaining settlements and agriculture and contributing to the maintenance of viable fish stocks for the lake.
Economically, elephants are the largest tourist attraction in Kasungu National Park, promoting tourism which is one of government priority areas, contributing 7.7 percent towards the Gross Domestic Product of which 2.7 percent is from the wildlife sector.
Kande Health Centre gets solar powered water supply system
By Chisomo Kambandanga
Nkhata Bay, December 11, Mana: Nurse-in-Charge for Kande Health Centre in Nkhata Bay, Chipiliro Chaluwa says the facility has been grappling with lack of portable water over the past seven years.
Speaking on Monday, during commissioning of a solar powered water project at the health centre, Chaluwa said the facility faced challenges in infection control and maintaining hygiene, which particularly affected the maternity wing.
He explained: "Mostly, we referred patients to Chintheche Hospital because without water we could not provide other critical services.
"At times we could send guardians to fetch water from far distances where they were also scrambling with community members. Now that we have this solar energy generating facility, we thank government for the consideration."
Senior Chief Fukamapiri described the solar water supply system as landmark, saying people in his area will access health services they were deprived of due to lack of portable water at the facility.
“It was worrying to see people mainly expectant mothers walking long distances to Chintheche Hospital when our area has a health facility. This water project is not only helping the health centre but also Kande Primary School and surrounding communities,” he said.
Nkhata Bay District Commissioner (DC), Rodgers Newa said the solar powered water supply system will provide access to portable water to over 16500 members of surrounding communities.
The project has been implemented by Nkhata Bay District Council with support from UNICEF and USAID as a response to cholera outbreak in 2022
Ignorance and poverty fueling GBV cases in Ntchisi
By Maria Tembo
Ntchisi, December 7, Mana: Ntchisi Gender office says ignorance and poverty are major contributing factors to increasing cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the district.
Gender Development officer in the district Chikondi Macheso said this on Wednesday at Chikho 2 primary school ground in Sub Traditional Authority Kasakula during launch of this year's 16 day of activism against gender based violence.
She said it is worrisome that such cases continue to rise in the district despite different interventions being implemented.
“This year alone 3309 cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) have been registered in the district and not more than 2000 cases were registered last year,” explained Macheso.
Present at the event was Council Chairperson for the district Arnold Kapolo who said the council will continue to sensitive people on GBV to reduce such cases, adding that this year the cases were high compared to last year and that perpetrators will face the law.
Kapolo then appealed to chiefs in the district to be on the fore front in sensitising their subjects about GBV and to continue reporting perpetrators of such cases to relevant authorities if they are to win and reduce GBV cases in the district.
“It is sad that women and girls continue to face GBV be it at home and school as such, we would like to encourage them to report any form of such cases to relevant authorities for perpetrators to face the law and for the district to register zero GBV cases,” said Kapolo.
Sub T/A Kasakula whose area has registered more cases of GBV said he will put in place measures that will help in reducing such cases in the area and the district at large.
The Ntchisi Gender office also awarded traditional leaders and social workers whose areas managed to reduce GBV cases in the district.
This year’s commemoration is under the theme: " Invest to End Gender Based Violence in Malawi".
