Malawi launches study to tackle malnutrition

Malawi, one of Africa's poorest nations, on Monday launched a study to tackle malnutrition in a country where one out of every four children dies before their fifth birthday.

The survey aims to help the government better target its programmes to prevent malnutrition, a joint statement by the Malawi government, UNICEF and the Irish Aid agency which is funding the 500,000-dollar project.

The last such study in 2001 found that almost 60 percent of pre-school children, 57 percent of women and 37 percent of men had vitamin A deficiency, which hurts the immune system.

UNICEF's representative in Malawi, Aida Girma, said the lack of vitamin A will be responsible for 156,000 child deaths between 2006 and 2015.

"Micro-nutrient deficiencies have an immense impact on child mortality in Malawi," she said.

Nearly half of Malawi's 12 million citizens live below the poverty line of one dollar a day and the country's gross domestic product is around 210 dollars per person.

US Malaria Coordinator arrives in Malawi

The US government’s Malaria Coordinator, Timothy Ziemer, is expected to arrive in the country on Monday for a three-day visit to discuss malaria activities undertaken by his government, the US embassy has said here.

According to the diplomatic mission, Ziemer is coming to Malawi to discuss malaria activities with government officials and civil society representatives in the health sector.

"Ziemer, who leads the implementation of the United States President George W. Bush\’s Malaria Initiative would review progress made in malaria control under the Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI) in Malawi during the programme’s first full year of implementation," it said.

PMI was launched by President George Bush in June 2005 and is being implemented in several countries of Africa, including Malawi.

Foot and mouth disease outbreak hits Malawi

Malawi’s Secretary for Agriculture and Food Security, Andrew Daudi, on Monday warned that there was an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the country’s two southern districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje on the border with Mozambiaque.

The animal disease is a highly contagious viral disease which affects all cloven hoofed animals, including cattle, goats, sheep and pigs and other wildlife ruminants.

He told APA during an interview that the disease has serious social and economic implications for a country like Malawi if not controlled and managed timely.

"We are doing everything possible to manage and control the outbreak by putting up measures in order to contain the disease," he said.

He said some of the measures put in place included temporary suspension of all live livestock markets, banning all livestock slaughtering, intensification of public awareness in its early detection, prevention and control of the disease, among others.

He therefore urged the feedlot owners to stop the restocking of their units within the outbreak period.

Mwafulirwa is Malawi’s saviour

Former Ajax Cape Town striker Russell Mwafulirwa scored twice in the second-half to hand Malawi a 2-1 victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo in their World Cup qualifier in Blantyre on Saturday.
The result ensured Malawi’s progress to the final phase of the 2010 World Cup preliminaries.

Congo, who as Zaire were the first black African side to reach the World Cup finals in1974, are eliminated after finishing third.

The results mean the end of a brief tenure in charge for their French coach Patrice Neveu.

The visitors had taken an early lead after a powerful long range shot from Lomana LuaLua in the 12th minute, but Mwafulirwa equalised early in the second half and then notched the winner eight minutes from time.

Malawi finished the group campaign with four wins from six matches under former Free State Stars coach Kinnah Phiri.

Saturday’s line-up included PSL-based players Fisher Kondowe, Peter Mponda, and Joseph Kamwendo, as well as former Jomo Cosmos goal ace Esau Kanyenda.

Credit crisis should not hurt poor, ministers urge

Major economies should not use the global credit crunch as an excuse to renege on aid promises to poor countries whose problems may worsen due to the crisis that began in the West, world finance leaders and development officials said on Sunday.

During weekend meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, African finance ministers pointed to the speed with which the U.S. and Europe have raised billions of dollars for faltering banks but are behind in aid commitments to poor countries.

Higher food and fuel prices have added to the budget burdens of poor countries. The World Bank has created a watch list of 28 countries facing financial strains, which spans from Jordan, Lebanon, Cambodia, Sri Lanka to Jamaica, Haiti, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Malawi, Nepal, Fiji and Ivory Coast.

European Union officials also worry.

"The credibility of the donor community as a reliable partner is clearly at stake," Louis Michel, the European Union's aid chief, told the IMF and World Bank development committee.

"This is already self-evident when the fledgling pace with which aid for the poorest is increased is compared with the speed with which aid for the richest is mobilized," he added.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged the World Bank and IMF to make every effort to ease the impact of the financial crisis on poorer countries because he said they ultimately will be affected.

"Financial market developments are having an acute impact on advanced countries, and we can expect the crisis to have major ramifications for emerging markets and the poorest countries as well," he said.

Developed countries promised to double aid to Africa by 2010 at a leaders' summit in 2008, but have failed to make good on the pledges. Strains on poorer countries have become especially acute as prices for food and fuel have risen sharply.

Although the prices have receded somewhat, they remain high in historical terms and are likely to stay volatile. As of end-September, oil prices have declined around 45 percent with respect to their mid-July peaks, but are still almost double the levels recorded at end-2006, the IMF said.

Rising food prices have caused 75 million more people to go hungry, the Food and Agriculture Organization said. Similarly, the World Bank has said food price increases may swell the ranks of the world's poor by 100 million people. Nearly one-third of the newly poor are in Africa, the region most severely affected by the current rise in prices.