Malawian state's rhetoric belies reality

Communities grapple daily with failing health services, entrenched corruption and gender inequality, leaving women and girls literally walking for survival

- Collins Mtika

Doublespeak: Second Vice President, Enock Kamzingeni Chihana. Photo: Mikel Images

(Mikel Images)

n 10 December, 77 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Malawi's second vice president Enock Kamzingeni Chihana made a familiar declaration about human rights being one of the country's "everyday essentials".

But in districts like Mulanje, Mangochi and Machinga, where women walk for hours to reach a health post, girls marry before they understand what marriage means and corruption siphons away public funds meant to keep people alive, the words ring hollow.

In most rural health facilities in Malawi, the first thing that is noticeable is what's missing. No staff. No medicines. No electricity. Sometimes not even running water. Some 87% of births happen in rural communities, yet the health system is built everywhere except where women live. As a result, the country's maternal mortality rate is 381 deaths per 100 000 live births, one of the highest in the world.