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Palliative care

Malawi

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In Malawi, where an estimated 980,000 people are living with HIV, we run projects to support efforts to combat the virus.

Malawi’s massive budget deficit has hit the health system hard. In addition, international donors have withheld budget support since 2014 due to corruption scandals.

In Nsanje district, we support the severely underfunded district management team in running a fully decentralised HIV and tuberculosis (TB) programme that includes infants newly diagnosed with HIV. We also support in providing care for patients with advanced HIV in the district hospital, and healthcare for truck drivers and sex workers.

We are also developing a comprehensive programme to screen, diagnose and treat cervical cancer, which accounts for 40 per cent of all cancers among women in Malawi and kills an estimated 2,314 a year.

Our activities in 2022 in Malawi

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2022.

MSF in Malawi in 2022 In 2022, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) worked alongside the Ministry of Health in Malawi to respond to several emergencies, including one of the worst cholera outbreaks in the country’s history.
Malawi IAR map 2022

In January, after tropical storm Ana hit Malawi, MSF worked with the health ministry to reopen health centres to provide care for people who had been affected. Shortly afterwards, the country experienced a widespread cholera outbreak. From March onwards, our teams set up cholera treatment units in Mangochi and Blantyre districts, where we treated patients with severe and moderate symptoms. We also trained local healthcare workers, conducted health promotion sessions and epidemiological surveillance activities, and supported the local authorities to run an oral cholera vaccination campaign.
 
The mortality rates of cervical cancer in Malawi are among the highest in the world. Our teams, in collaboration with the Malawian health authorities, implement a comprehensive approach to the disease, aiming to improve access to prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment. Our treatment activities are based at Queen Elizabeth Central hospital in Blantyre, and we have screening units integrated in health centres in several districts of Southern region.

Activities cover all stages of the disease, from prevention of human papillomavirus infection with health promotion and vaccination, to pre-cancerous and high-grade lesions, progression into invasive and metastatic cancer, and end-of-life care. As radiotherapy is not yet available in the country, we have started sending some patients to Nairobi.

In Chiradzulu district, we continued to offer a comprehensive package of care to children, teenagers and some adults living with HIV. This includes counselling, peer support, individual psychosocial support, and sexual and reproductive healthcare, in addition to antiretroviral treatment.

In 2022, we began supporting two community-based organisations who provide services for sex workers. Our teams supported with HIV testing, treatment and access to preventive measures for the disease.  

 

in 2022
 
Malawi

MSF closes chapter on 25-year-old HIV/AIDS project in Malawi

Project Update 3 Aug 2023
 
Cyclone Freddy in Malawi
Malawi

People cut off from healthcare after cyclone Freddy batters Malawi

Project Update 24 Mar 2023
 
Malnutrition emergency: mobile clinic in Ranobe
Natural disasters

Immediate medical needs in Malawi after cyclone Freddy hits southern region

Press Release 14 Mar 2023
 
A day at Blantyre cervical cancer referral hospital
Malawi

Three things to know about cervical cancer in Malawi

Interview 3 Feb 2023
 
Mozambique - Jose Macamo Project - HIV
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Ravaged by new strain, southern Africa must get COVID-19 vaccines

Press Release 3 Feb 2021
 
“SECOND WAVE” OF COVID-19
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Malawi is overwhelmed by second wave of COVID-19

Interview 27 Jan 2021