Malawi

Malawi is among the world’s least-developed countries and one of the most densely populated in Africa, home to 17 million people. The population is largely rural, the economy based chiefly in agriculture, with a high burden of poverty, a poorly developed infrastructure. As a result, the government depends heavily on outside donors to provide even basic government services, including health. HIV infection is generalized in the population and malaria is endemic throughout the country, placing a heavy health burden on a government already strapped for resources.

Malawi has a severe shortage of adequately trained health personnel across all professional cadres, and it is difficult to train, retain, and manage existing workers. There are critical gaps in such areas as health information systems and specific data available for decision making.

MEASURE Evaluation worked in Malawi to strengthen particular components of the health information system and to improve the quality and use of data. Such evidence for decision making helps the government invest scarce resources strategically for greatest impact. In Malawi, MEASURE Evaluation focused on:

• Building M&E capacity for systematic improvement in data collection and data use to inform health policy making at the national level.
• Conducting research on gender-related barriers to retention on Option B+ (lifelong adherence to anti-retroviral treatment [ART] to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV) and providing support to evaluation of interventions for people living with HIV and AIDS
• Strengthening the government of Malawi’s capacity to implement a sample-based vital registration system with using the verbal autopsy (SAVVY) method to determine causes of death and trends in mortality
• Conducting an impact evaluation of the Organized Network of Services for Everyone’s Health (ONSE) project, which will work in 16 districts to reduce maternal, under-five, infant, and neonatal mortality rates, and to increase the use of modern contraceptives among couples with unmet need
• Conducting an evaluation of a communication strategy on depo-medroxy progesterone acetate (DMPA) use and HIV acquisition risk
• Analyzing stories collected using the most significant change (MSC) method as part of USAID’s evaluation of Feed the Future/Malawi 

Related Content

Quality of family planning services in HIV integrated and non-integrated health facilities in Malawi and Tanzania

Malawi: Snapshot of the Strength of the Health Information System as a Source of HIV Data

Results of Sample Vital Registration with Verbal Autopsy to Improve Malawi’s Health Programs

Impact Evaluation of Malawi's Organized Network of Services for Everyone's (ONSE) Health Project: Baseline Report

Gender Factors Influencing Participation in the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Program in Malawi under Option B+

Availability of family planning services and quality of counseling by faith-based organizations: a three country comparative analysis

“If my husband leaves me, I will go home and suffer, so better cling to him and hide this thing”: The influence of gender on Option B+ prevention of mother-to-child transmission participation in Malawi and Uganda

The Effect of Access to Contraceptive Services on Injectable Use and Demand for Family Planning in Malawi

 The Provision of Intermittent Preventive Treatment for Malaria in Antenatal Care Clinics in Malawi: Views of Health Care Providers

An Association between Ethnic Diversity and HIV Prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa

Using a Patient-Held Record System to Examine Family Planning Uptake, Continuation of Use, and Method/Provider-Switching in Rural Karonga

Decision Making Among Community-Based Volunteers Working in Vulnerable Children Programs: Child Status Index Usage Assessment Phase 2

Comparing Alternative Measures of Poverty: Assets-Based Wealth Index vs. Expenditures-Based Poverty Score

Malawi Country Profile: Health Information System Indicators