SPECIAL REPORTS (12)
Local Communities in Malawi Reap from Carbon Trading
Some communities in the Central and Northern regions of Malawi are being rewarded for making significant steps in reducing greenhouse emissions in the atmosphere through planting and taking care of trees.
Sad Story Behind Beautiful Smiles of Malawi’s Female Hospitality Workers
The hospitality industry is associated with peace and calm and fun. It is in the hotels and lodges where life is associated with tranquility and enjoyment – a near taste of the world hereafter.
The hospitality industry is largely associated with smiles, good food and happiness. But in this special assignment I find that behind all that sophistication, pomp and apparent sacred hospitality services, there are women in tears: tears of payments under the minimum wage; tears of sexual harassment perpetuated by both bosses and male guests.
How Malawi Is Slowly Winning the War Against TB
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that the tuberculosis (TB) treatment rate in countries around the world must be at 90 percent, and several countries including Malawi are working hard to achieve this.
If the statistics are anything to go by, Malawi is on the right track in the fight against TB as the treatment success rate in the country is at 90 percent.
This success has not been easy to come, according to Programmes Manager for the National TB and Leprosy Elimination Programme Dr James Mpunga. So how is Malawi making strides in the battle against one of the most difficult diseases?
As Chikondi Mphande has been finding out, it remains a laborious battle – a mixed bag.
Teen Mother Urges Youth to Learn About Contraceptives
Jessica Mandanda is a youth rights activist from Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. But she didn’t become an activist by choice—circumstances forced her. When she was 17 years old, Ms. Mandanda got pregnant and gave birth to her first child.
ICT Helping Bridge Information Gap for Malawian Farmers
Malawi is one of the developing countries trying to tap into the benefits of the digital world. Despite its limited resources, the country is reaping the benefits of modern Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in different sectors, including but not limited to health, education, finance and agriculture, though with glitches.
Agriculture is the mainstay of the country’s economy, and such players in the sector are trying to take advantage of different ICT tools to improve farming, which makes up for the ways of earning a living for almost 80% of the 18 million-plus population.
In their analysis, Aness Mwale and George Kalungwe discuss the potential that the use of ICT tools has in boosting farming in the country, especially in information dissemination considering that the country has a gap of nearly 1000 agricultural advisory staff on the required 3 million.
Untold Stories Of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Peter Mulowa is a boy aged 17. This boy has a condition known as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). DMD is a genetic disorder that weakens a person’s muscles over time.
Parents’ Dilemma in Disclosing HIV Status of Children – Special Report
Innocent Kumchedwa investigates the dilemma of some parents to disclose early to their children, born with HIV, their status.
Watching Children Work the Fields; Out of School
In our special report, Luka Beston, finds that the irrigation schemes which were meant to be a source of livelihood for the communities in the area of Senior chief Mphuka in Thyolo, a district in Malawi bordering Chikwawa, have turned into a ground for disturbing child labor.
Luka has discovered startling evidence of the malpractice in this Southern region district where boys and girls, as young as 11, are being used tending bean fields in the irrigation schemes.
Young and Endangered: School Girls Growing Up in Local Distillery Villages
Growing up a girl in Malawi has its own challenges. Especially growing up in rural Malawi areas. It is even more challenging for a girl growing up in a rural setting in this country and from a home where brewing beer and distilling alcohol, for imbibers, is the sole means of survival.
In this special report, Chikondi Mphande, takes us to some villages in this country where girls, as young as ten, brew beer and distill local gin in their homes. The majority of these girls are turned into sex toys for the imbibers. Some have ended up becoming teen-mothers.
While most of the girls just have no time for school, the few who still do are traumatized. Their class performance is negatively affected. Some of the girls end-up becoming teen-mothers.
The Dilemma of Treating Dialysis Patients in Malawi
Scientists, health professionals and traditional medicine advocates in Malawi are not agreed on the way forward with regards to administration of herbs and other traditional medicines on dialysis-patients.
While some medical experts think the proliferation of herbals is a setback on the fight against the disease, some oppose the thought. Elsewhere, local scientists think it’s time traditional medicines were brought in for scientific trials.
Meanwhile, herbalists argue that growing resistance to traditional medicines is but hangover of imperialism aimed at painting black anything originating from black people, especially Malawi and Africans.
In our special report this week, Western Guta, tells the story of the management of kidney-patients in Malawi public hospitals, a good number of whom are also using traditional medicines.
