Malawi Research Articles

Shocks and migration in Malawi

Shocks and migration in Malawi

Mkandawire v. Republic of Malawi

International tribunals — African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights — Jurisdiction — Temporal jurisdiction — Date of entry into force of Protocol to African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights — Date cause of action arising — Continuing violations of rights — Subject-matter jurisdiction — Broad subject-matter jurisdiction under Article 3 of Protocol — Jurisdiction ratione personae — Optional Declaration under Article 34(6) of Protocol — Competence of Court to deal with cases instituted by individuals — Admissibility of application — Pendency of matter before African Commission — Recourse to national courts — Exhaustion of local remediesHuman rights — Treaties — African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1981, Articles 7 and 15 — Right to a fair hearing — Right to work under equitable and satisfactory conditions — Whether termination of employment violating Articles 7 and 15 of CharterClaims — Local remedies rule — Human rights action — Failure of applicant to argue case in national court because of objection to national procedural rule — National court entitled to determine its procedure — African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

A Study on the Water Resources Assessment for Irrigation Scheme in Malawi

A Study on the Water Resources Assessment for Irrigation Scheme in Malawi

A mobile health technology intervention for addressing the critical public health issue of child mortality

AbstractEvaluations of development initiatives in resource‐poor settings dominate Health Information Technology/Systems research. Yet a dearth of research exists, which documents the design and development of these technological artefacts. Through the lens of Transition Management Framework, this research attempts to address this gap in literature, to describe a particular technology (ie, Supporting LIFE—SL eCCM App) and the way in which its hardware, software, and system configurations interact with the sociocultural and economic context in one rural region of the Malawian community. This study uses a design science perspective to ensure the design and development of a health technology intervention that is relevant and has utility in the context for which it has been built, ie, Malawi Africa. This paper addresses the manner in which the configurations of a mobile Health intervention (known as Supporting LIFE eCCM App) interact within a developing world context. Supporting LIFE eCCM aims to leverage the critical societal issue of reducing child mortality in Malawi, Africa. The design science approach supports the design and build of a health intervention that is a good fit for the “real‐world” health scenario considered. Coupled with Geel's Transition Management Framework, we emphasise the need for a balanced sociotechnical approach to mHealth, placing individuals at the centre of the IT development project while also considering social, economic, and cultural factors. These are key environmental aspects of a development project such as this one.

Prevention better than cure: cost of cholera in Malawi

Prevention better than cure: cost of cholera in Malawi

Glaring mismatch in the demand and supply of technical, entrepreneurial, vocational education and training (TEVET) skills in the agricultural sector: An analysis of the oil seeds and sugar industries in Malawi

Several studies and strategic papers point out a general clamour from industries on a limited supply of technical, entrepreneurial, vocational education and training (TEVET) skills in Malawi. In the oil seeds and sugar industries, organisations lament as regards the quality and quantity of experts available in the local market. This paper analyses the availability of TEVET skills in the two industries from the perspective of employers in response to the industrial complaints. The study adopts the mixed-methods approach and uses semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and document analysis as tools for collecting data. The results indicate great disparities in the availability of TEVET skills against the demand from the industries. While critical skills is absent in the two industries, there is also need to promote multi-skilling at the artisan and technician levels to enable graduates to perform multiple-related functions once they are employed. The shortfall in the availability of skills in the two sectors has resulted in human resource shortfalls which are affecting production processes. The study suggests the facilitation of academia-industry linkages to promote harmonious working relationships which would ensure that curricula are informed by industrial needs. Key words: Technical, entrepreneurial, vocational education and training (TEVET) skills, agriculture sector, sugar industry, oilseeds industry, Malawi.

Students’ perceptions of the open and distance learning mode for initial primary teacher training in Malawi: A case of Lilongwe Teachers’ College

Students’ perceptions of the open and distance learning mode for initial primary teacher training in Malawi: A case of Lilongwe Teachers’ College

Kujoni: South Africa in Malawi’s National Imaginary

This article recovers the literary and political value of Legson Kayira’s novel Jingala (1969), dismissed by earlier critics as lightweight. I argue instead for the seriousness of its engagement with a significant aspect of Malawian life, namely the country’s historical reliance on the export of migrant labour to its mineral-rich neighbours, especially South Africa. Between 1900 and 1988, the country was the second-largest supplier of contracted labour to the South African mines. Kayira’s novel offers significant new insights into the effects of migrant labour on Malawians’ consciousness of South Africa and themselves. In the light of South Africa’s current membership of the BRICS (the economic collaboration of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), as well as the BRICS’ claim to provide an alternative to the imperial legacy of Africa’s relationship with the west, a fresh look at Jingala will allow us to reconsider Malawi’s relationship with South Africa, that country’s historically imperialist role in the region, and the legacy of ‘kujoni’ – labour migration to Johannesburg, the city that represented South Africa’s opportunities. Using a broadly cultural materialist approach and Edward Said’s notion of imaginative geography, and a world-systems theory approach nuanced by recent work in globalisation theory, the article maps the imagined geography of South Africa represented in the novel and considers how it intervened in everyday life.

Book Review: Explaining Ethnic and Election Violence: Kenya and Malawi in Comparison

Besprechung der Monographie: Anika Becher, Explaining Ethnic and Election Violence: Kenya and Malawi in Comparison , Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2016, ISBN 9783848733903, 557 Seiten

Is inpatient care for HIV and TB still a priority? HIV- and TB-related admissions in a rural hospital in Malawi

Is inpatient care for HIV and TB still a priority? HIV- and TB-related admissions in a rural hospital in Malawi

Gaps in the cascade of care in two high HIV prevalence settings in Zimbabwe and Malawi

Gaps in the cascade of care in two high HIV prevalence settings in Zimbabwe and Malawi

Smallholder Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Cookstoves in Dedza, Malawi

As improved cookstove programs increase in popularity, policy makers need accurate estimates of their constituents’ willingness to pay for the stoves. Knowing which socioeconomic factors affect willingness to pay will allow program planners to price and target the stoves effectively. This study elicits the willingness to pay of 300 rural Malawians in Dedza District for two types of stove and explores the determinant socioeconomic factors. Respondents were willing to pay a median price of 7 USD for a clay stove and 9 USD for a rocket stove. In the clay stove regression model, willingness to pay is positively correlated with dietary diversity and negatively correlated with fuel expenditure. In the rocket stove regression model, willingness to pay is positively correlated with net household income and dietary diversity, and negatively correlated with higher incidence of cooking-related ailments. A literature review reveals that because of the discrepancy between short-term and long-term impacts of improved cookstove adoption, the focus of stove programs should be sustained, proper stove use by adopters, not just dissemination. Positive impact estimates are inflated when only short-term adoption data and laboratory fuel test results are used; more long-term impact evaluations are needed. Further, the study of socioeconomic determinants of stove adoption alone is inadequate for a self-sustaining, unsubsidized improved cookstove market. Choice elicitation experiment studies on product-specific attributes, that is stove characteristics, should complement socioeconomic findings to determine what is most desired by the target market.

Knowledge of viral load and treatment failure amongst patients on second-line and third-line antiretroviral therapy regimens: a mixed methods study in MSF programmes in Malawi, Kenya and Mozambique

Knowledge of viral load and treatment failure amongst patients on second-line and third-line antiretroviral therapy regimens: a mixed methods study in MSF programmes in Malawi, Kenya and Mozambique

Effectiveness of a comprehensive HIV and tuberculosis prevention, screening and management programme in Malawi prisons

Effectiveness of a comprehensive HIV and tuberculosis prevention, screening and management programme in Malawi prisons

DOES EDUCATION INFULENCE FARMERS PRODUCTIVITY? The case of maize and tobacco farmers in Malawi

 Agriculture productivity in Malawi is very low and many farmers in the country have low education levels and they are in severe poverty. This study used a Generalized Cobb Douglas function on Integrated Household Data III (IHS3)to estimate elasticity of labour in agriculture and determine the effect of education on farm labour productivity. Results showedthat maize and tobacco outputs are not very responsive to changes in quantity of labour used. It was also found that education has a positive effect on farm labour productivity. In addition, secondary school education has the largest influence on farm labour productivity. The study recommends reforms in the primary school curriculum andcompulsory primary school education. Furthermore, educated young people like university graduates should be encouraged through loans to engage in agricultural production.Â

Plasma Alpha‐Linolenic and Linoleic Acids in Early Pregnancy are Associated with Birth Outcomes in Rural Malawi

BackgroundSeveral studies suggest that low circulating levels of long‐chain omega‐3 fatty acids are associated with poor birth outcomes, however results are mixed possibly because the majority of studies have been conducted in high‐income settings.ObjectiveTo determine whether fatty acid status during pregnancy is associated with birth outcomes in Malawian women.MethodsWe performed a nested cohort study (n=315) of pregnant women ≤ 20 wk gestation enrolled in a large randomized controlled trial in rural Malawi. We measured plasma fatty acids (wt%) at enrollment and at 36 wk gestation. Specific fatty acids of interest included the omega‐3 fatty acids, alpha‐linolenic acid (ALA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA); and the omega‐6 fatty acids, linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA). Study nurses recorded birth size, and duration of gestation was estimated by baseline ultrasound. Linear regression and logistic regression models were used to examine the association between plasma fatty acids and birth outcomes.ResultsIn adjusted analyses, higher plasma ALA at ≤ 20 wk gestation was associated with a longer duration of gestation (β: 0.34 d/0.1%, SE: 0.22, p=0.03), greater birth weight (β: 16 g/0.1%, SE: 6.4, p=0.01), and greater head‐circumference‐for‐age z‐score (β: 0.03 SD/0.1%, SE: 0.01, p=0.04). Above median plasma ALA at ≤ 20 wk gestation was associated with a lower risk of newborn stunting (RR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.30, 0.94, p=0.03) versus below median. Plasma ALA at 36 wk gestation was not associated with any birth outcome. Higher LA at ≤ 20 wk gestation was associated with greater weight‐for‐age (WAZ), and higher LA at 36 wk gestation with greater WAZ and head‐circumference‐for‐age z‐score. AA and DHA levels were not associated with any birth outcome.ConclusionHigher plasma ALA and LA in early pregnancy were associated with better birth outcomes, however their longer‐chain metabolites AA and DHA were not.Support or Funding InformationFunding was provided by a grant to UC Davis by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

An analysis of the technical and vocational skills gaps in the manufacturing industry in Malawi

This study presents the findings of skills scoping study for the manufacturing industry in Malawi. The study analyse the skills gaps in the sector to inform the development and review processes of technical and vocational education programmes in the country to help balance the demand and supply of skills equilibrium. Currently, research indicates a mismatch between the range of programmes in training institutions and needs of the industry due to weak linkages. The study used interviews, questionnaire and document analysis to investigate the skills situation. While most of the required skills are readily available on the local market, the results reveal a scarcity of expertise in certain critical areas within the beverages, agro-processing, plastics and packaging as well as assembly sectors. There are also quality and quantity shortfalls affecting the supply of technical and vocational skills. The depth of course content is low in fields such as automobile engineering (designing and assembling). The results further indicated that the industry is lacking multi-skilled technicians capable of performing multiple functions within their areas of expertise. Furthermore, a majority of the technical personnel in all the four sectors of the manufacturing industry possess limited supervisory and communication skills. Key words: Technical, entrepreneurial and vocational education and training (TEVET), skills gaps, manufacturing industry, Malawi.

After the mines: the changing social and economic landscape of Malawi–South Africa migration

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Franics via https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2016.1273826

Where’s our president?: Malawi’s journalists tease their president as part of a campaign to make the government more transparent

Where’s our president?: Malawi’s journalists tease their president as part of a campaign to make the government more transparent

Challenges of water accessibility in the urban centres of Malawi: A case study of Blantyre City

This study assesses challenges of water supply to urban areas of Malawi since factors obstructing water availability, indicators of water service’s delivery, trend of tariff structure and cost recovery’s mechanisms and water governance in Malawi have been poorly assessed in the past despite the fact that the country has engaged itself in the improvement of urban water policy. The study was conducted in Blantyre City and data was collected through several methods such as literature review, structured questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and field observations. Blantyre’s water utility (Blantyre Water Board) has non-revenue water (NRW) of 40 to 49% and coverage of 75%. Poor governance and low tariffs coupled with urbanization are the main causes of water shortage in the city of Blantyre. Since consultative increase in tariffs could infuse greater efficiency into water supply system, this study recommends that the Government of Malawi should implement the following measures: i) increase budgetary support to urban water utilities, ii) privatize water services and operation, iii) enact urban water and sanitation Act to guide urban water supply, iv) make water utilities autonomous to avoid political meddling and v) institute a regulator for urban water utilities. Key words: Malawi, political meddling, cost recovery, non-revenue water, Blantyre City.