Posts tagged Malawi

It’s an achievement in itself that Malawi is holding its sixth multi-party national elections since its transition from dictatorship under former President Kamuzu Banda.

African governments are considering ways of tapping into the lucrative marijuana market. According to a UN survey, more than 10 000 tons of cannabis are produced on the continent each year, which could be worth billions of dollars in a rapidly expanding global market for legal cannabis.

The Ghana Health Service is working with Zipline, the drone company best known for starting blood delivery services in Rwanda, to deliver medicine to remote parts of the country that are hard to reach by road. The initiative is a major step towards giving every Ghanaian access to life-saving medicine.

It was possible to avert some of the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai. If African leaders did their job and were held to account, there would be no need to create hashtags for prayers when disasters strike the continent.

Cyclone Idai, which has been described by the UN as probably the worst such disaster ever in the southern hemisphere, has affected 2 million people in the three countries. The African Union has joined the ranks of bodies contributing to the relief effort, but has it given enough?

“Sexual cleansing” is a common harmful practice in several African countries where a woman is expected to have sex after her first period, after becoming widowed, or after an abortion, as a cleansing ritual. In Malawi, girls are forced to have sex with a paid sex worker, known as a “hyena”, once they reach puberty.

Malawian Dr Ken-Keller Kumwenda and a team of local doctors, nurses and anaesthetists have carried out Kamuzu Central Hospital’s first ever brain tumour surgery. However, as the country does not meet the recommended surgeon ratio, does this present a career opportunity for the country’s youth?

Opening up positions of political power to women will lead to effective and better implemented development policies.

“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” is the story of a Malawian boy who puts his education and science to work to build a wind turbine, saving his village from famine. The film, set to debut on Netflix, was shot in Malawi despite investor concerns.

A Malawian court has given an injunction to stop the construction of the $10 million Mahatma Gandhi statue. The “Gandhi Must Fall” group gave 18 grounds against the construction of the statue.