Malawi & AIDS

About one out of every 14 people in Malawi has AIDS. Some estimates put the number as high as one in seven. Experts say the deadly disease is a major reason why the country's average life expectancy is 43 years. The first case of AIDS was reported in the 14.2 million-resident country in eastern Africa in 1985. Since then, national and international organizations have worked to fight AIDS in Malawi, which has one of the highest rates of the disease in the world.

People

• The majority of Malawians with AIDS contracted the disease through heterosexual activity when they were between the ages of 13 and 24, reports Avert. About 60 percent of the victims are female. About 70 percent of sex workers carry AIDS. There about 111,000 children with the disease, and the United Nations has estimated that the number of children orphaned by AIDS is as high as 1.2 million, which is about 8 percent of the country.

Taboo

• One of the largest obstacles health care providers are faced with in Malawi and its AIDS epidemic is the country's taboo against the disease, according to Avert. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who was Malawi's president when doctors first discovered the virus in the 1980s, deemed AIDS, HIV and other sexual topics as inappropriate for conversation, which led to discrimination in some communities. In many cases, people would conceal the fact they had AIDS out of fear. Many people also refused testing out of fear they would learn they had the disease.

Government Action

• Malawi's government created a short-term plan, which included blood screenings and education programs, after the country's first reported AIDS case in 1985. The government stepped up the fight in 1988 with the National AIDS Control Program, then it instituted a formal five-year program in 1989. After Banda left office in 1994, the new president, Bakili Muluzi, declared an AIDS epidemic. The government intensified its anti-AIDS efforts in 2000 with a five-year strategy. President Bingu Wa Mutharika took office in 2004 and re-intensified the battle with a set of prevention policies.

Prevention

• Governments, medical organizations and other groups have had difficulty preventing AIDS and its precursor, HIV, in Malawi because of social views and financial limitations. Voluntary counseling and testing began in the country in 1992, but only about 1 percent of the country had used it by 2003. Malawi has expanded its counseling and testing services for expectant mothers, which advocates hope will reach out to 70 percent of all mothers by 2012. Non-governmental organizations have begun giving out condoms as well as promoting the female condom.

Treatment

• With some help from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Malawians have had more access to antiretroviral drugs. The number of people receiving the drugs increased from 13,000 in 2004 to almost 200,000 in 2009. Despite success with administering more of the drug, health care workers struggle with limited manpower and finances.

Political History

• Great Britain established the protectorate state of Nyasaland in 1891, but Malawi became an independent country in 1964. President Banda took office that year and held power until the country's first multiparty election 1994, when Muluzi took over. Muluzi tried to amend the Malawian constitution to allow for another term, but he lost the office to Mutharika in 2004. The country's economy has improved during Mutharika's term, but his party, the political minority, is constantly stalled on major policies for AIDS and HIV, among other issues, according to the CIA World Factbook.