Minister of Finance, Simplex Chithyola Banda, has launched the 2024 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) Key Indicators Report.
The report, conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) highlights significant improvements in the country’s health services, particularly in reducing mortality rates and increasing access to antenatal healthcare for pregnant women.
Chithyola Banda said the report indicates that Malawi is making progress in achieving its Malawi Vision 2063 goal of ensuring universal access to health care.
“This report has outlined that as a country, we are now doing well in terms of health services since a lot of people in the country are now able to access health services in hospitals, mostly pregnant women, and this is in line with our Vision 2063 that states that healthcare should be accessed by every Malawian,” said Banda.
He applauded the NSO for conducting the survey and acknowledged the Ministry of Finance’s role in planning and policy formulation.
“For a country to do well, it requires a healthy population,” Banda added.
UNFPA Country Representative Nelida Rodrigues commended the government and stakeholders for their efforts to improve healthcare services.
“I appreciate the effort that the government of Malawi and other stakeholders are doing in order to make sure that health services are improving and also accessible to every individual, mostly pregnant women,” said Rodrigues.
She further emphasised the importance of addressing healthcare challenges to ensure economic growth and development. “If healthcare challenges are not taken care of, it can affect the economy and also the development of the country,” Rodrigues noted.
Commissioner for NSO Shelton Kanyama noted that the survey utilised previous data to provide a comprehensive picture of Malawi’s healthcare progress.
“This report has really outlined important issues that were affecting the provision of health services in the country and also how health services have improved, because nowadays women are able to receive health services in hospitals from well-professional health workers, and this has really helped the country in terms of drops in maternal mortality rate and also child mortality rate,” said Kanyama.
He clarified that the report is preliminary, with final results expected by August or September this year.
