Countries in Focus
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Malawi
Malawi is the 13th poorest country in the world and 42 per cent of the population lives on less than $1 a day. In 2005, a major food crisis in Malawi left over four million people facing food shortages and exasperated the problems of chronic malnutrition and disease outbreaks. A predominately rural country, basic services are out of reach to many.
HIV and AIDS are also taking a huge toll on people in Malawi. At 14.4 per cent, the HIV prevalence is extremely high and many children have been left orphaned by AIDS. More than 400,000 children under the age of 15 have lost one of both parents to AIDS-related illness and there are an ever-increasing number of child-headed and elderly-headed households.
In Malawi, UNICEF has been especially effective in promoting innovative community-based strategies to provide care and support to orphaned and vulnerable children though child care centres, children's corners and caregiver support programmes. Health care workers are also being trained to facilitate quality programmes at the community level.
As a direct response to the AIDS crisis, the Malawi Government developed an Orphaned and Vulnerable Children policy and a National Plan of Action for five years (2005-2009) to guide the implementation of activities for children in the country. The government has also trained local Social Welfare Assistants and Child Protection Workers to ensure that the rights of vulnerable children are addressed holistically.
two futures, one solution
Read MoreLife has been difficult for Malumbu Gondwe. At thirteen, he weighs a mere 46 pounds. Orphaned since the age of seven, Malumbu lives alone in his childhood home. And he was on his own 'sick, scared, and dying of AIDS' until a caring neighbour realized his condition and brought him to a UNICEF- assisted hospital.
Phiri Family Struggles to Cope
Read MoreIn the shanty slums of Ndirande Township in Blantyre City, living conditions are hard. Brenda Phiri, 22, lives here. She lost both her parents to AIDS. This has plunged her family, now consisting only of herself and five other children, into abject poverty. As the eldest, Brenda has assumed the daunting task of heading the household, a responsibility that has forced her to drop out of school.
There is a ray of hope for the Phiri family. The Ndirande Churches and Mosque Community Based Care Group, a neighbourhood organization supported by UNICEF.
