MALAWI: Health System Under Pressure & more – 23rd Dec 2025

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 23rd of December twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

A new epidemic intelligence report from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Malawi is among many African countries whose public health systems are under heavy pressure because of disease outbreaks such as Mpox, cholera, and measles.

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation said that, up to Sunday the 14th, 144 cases of Mpox, ninety-three of cholera, and 419 of measles had been reported. The Ministry agreed that cholera cases had surged during the previous and current rainy seasons, but said the Mpox and measles cases were too infrequent to be deemed an outbreak.

Still, the Ministry said they have been actively responding to health threats to prevent nationwide outbreaks.

More on health, as the twenty twenty-five World Malaria Health report said there was a significant increase in malaria cases and deaths across the world, with countries like Malawi being the most affected. The report said there were 282 million cases in twenty twenty-four, up from 273 million cases in twenty twenty-three.

Authorities from the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute said this could be because of a decline in malaria funding, which was at 4 billion dollars in twenty twenty-four, which is less than the required 9.3 billion dollars.

Local health rights activists agreed, saying that they have proof that local malaria cases increase when funding is cut.

There might be higher cases of sexually transmitted diseases, as the National AIDS Commission revealed that only 48% of sexually active people aged between fifteen and forty-nine used condoms this year. They said this usage is very low.

On Thursday the 18th, authorities from the Commission said that the low condom usage is because people are too used to receiving free condoms, and that some assume they are at low risk of catching sexually transmitted diseases, or simply do not know any better. They said the Commission is currently working on making cheaper condoms available to people.

The agricultural front isn’t performing too well either, with experts fearing food insecurity, since only 35% beneficiaries received farm inputs like fertilizer from the Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme, as the government delayed the distribution. This represents nearly 385 thousand people of the targeted 1.1 million.

This means that over 700 thousand farmers don’t have fertilizer, although this is the time to apply it, meaning their crops and the potential harvest could be affected, and Malawi’s food shortage issue could become much worse.

Even though the government insists it is still distributing farm inputs, local news said they did not provide concrete answers on how they will ensure the inputs reach farmers in time for fertilizer application.

As locals scramble for their next move, Vice President Jane Ansah is having the time of her life. People are criticizing her for spending 2.3 billion Kwacha, which is 1.3 million dollars, of taxpayers’ money to fund a sixteen-person trip for her husband’s eightieth birthday celebration in the UK.

The news hit social media on Monday the 22nd, after a leaked document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed that Ansah will be in Nottingham from Friday the 26th to the 10th of January. People questioned how the government could justify spending public funds on private matters, especially now, when several fronts like the economy are crumbling. Others also put the President’s austerity measures into question.

Meanwhile, Enock Chihana, the Second Vice President, has given contractors until the 20th of January to submit architectural designs for the Mombera University project in the Northern Region. The project has been there since twenty fifteen, but now the government is pushing for the school to be built, so that it can finally start enrolling students in twenty twenty-seven.

It is unclear why the university project was abandoned, since the government allocated funds for its construction in the national budgets from twenty twenty-three to the current one. They made promises to open it in June this year, but that never happened.

Mombera University is one of the government’s investments towards education. It will offer courses in mining, animal science, and veterinary medicine.

In our last episode, we mentioned that the government had increased tollgate fees, and that they would take effect in January. The Road Fund Administration spoke to local news on Sunday the 21st, and told them they were forced to increase the fees because they did not receive 218 billion Kwacha, which is 126 million dollars, of the fuel levy that the government collected in the last two and a half years.

This fund makes up 85% of the Roads Fund revenue and is meant to be distributed among local councils for road projects, including repairs and new roads.

The Roads Fund blamed the government for failing to follow its own framework, which states that fuel levies collected at gas stations should be sent to the Roads Fund Administration. They weren’t, and no one knows where the money went.

Some schools offer to teach students over the holidays at an additional fee, but the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said this was unacceptable and ordered all schools to stop offering these extra classes. They blamed schools for putting unnecessary financial pressure on parents and denying students time with their families, as schools are making parents feel that their children miss out on crucial education if they don’t take the classes.

A statement from the Ministry dated Friday the 19th said that schools should only have classes during the periods given in the school calendar, and let students relax during the holidays.

The Ministry has since given education authorities the power to punish schools that go against the order.

The country finalized its general elections in September, but some constituencies are still conducting elections.

On Monday the 22nd, the High Court ordered fresh parliamentary elections for the Nsanje South Constituency in the Southern Region after nullifying the Malawi Electoral Commission’s results.

Ramuzani Mahommed, an independent candidate, delivered a petition asking the court to nullify the results because the Commission announced him as the winner of the elections on the 30th of September, but came back on the 2nd of October and said they had made a mistake, announcing Thomson Kamangira, a Democratic Progressive Party candidate, as the winner.

The High Court ruled that the Commission had not followed the correct procedure, so re-elections will be held.

Malawi has a new holiday which will be commemorated on the 22nd of December.

Alfred Gangata, the Minister of State, launched Kabaza Day on Monday the 22nd, to remember people who had died or been injured while riding kabaza motorbikes, which are a common transportation mode in Malawi due to their low prices. He also said they would highlight the dangers of motorcycle transport on the day, since only 50% of kabaza operators have a driver's license. As a result, between twenty twenty and twenty twenty-three, there were over 4,500 motorcycle accidents, leading to over 470 deaths.

The Lilongwe Institute of Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery told local news that up to 70% of their patients are those involved in kabaza accidents, leaving them with spinal and head injuries, as well as multiple fractures.

Local news revealed that there are two million registered kabaza operators in Malawi, but only twelve thousand are registered with the Road Traffic Directorate.

In our previous episode, we mentioned how illegal mining is becoming rampant despite it being dangerous to the miners and their communities.

Now, an interesting article related to mining came out last week, which says that in Kasungu district in the Central Region, Pastor Abisalomu has become one of the most popular illegal miners. His story is interesting because he led the Healers of Hope Ministries, but quickly left his church in ruins to dig for gold. He and three other pastors joined forces and currently lead multiple mining operations in their area, with expensive mining equipment, like a gold mill and a jackhammer.

Local news said Abisalomu sells his gold to powerful people, such as lawmakers and Asian investors. Pastor Absalom, once a man of God, is now known as the man of gold.

You can check out the article with the link in the show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

We just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s been listening, subscribing, and sharing their thoughts with us. Your support keeps us going, and we’re grateful for every one of you. Happy holidays!

Pitani bwino!