Malawi and HIV/AIDS

Malawi is the poorest country in the world. Its a large agricultural country trying to make efforts to overcome the decades of underdevelopment, corruptions, and the impact of HIV and AIDS, which claims tens of thousands of lives every year.

Malawi is one of the worst hit countries by HIV and AIDS and is home to more than 1 million orphaned children by the disease. More than 10% of the population is living with HIV. An estimated 1,000,000 Malawians were living with HIV in 2013 and 48,000 Malawians died from HIV-related illnesses in the same year.3 The Malawian HIV epidemic plays a critical role in the country’s low life expectancy of just 54.8 years.

Over the last decade many efforts have been made to help this epidemic. New infections have dramatically declined from 98,000 new infections in 2005, to 34,000 new infections in 2013.5 Malawi has also witnessed a 67% reduction in children acquiring HIV, the largest country decline across sub-Saharan Africa.6

Women are more affected by HIV than men in Malawi. Almost 13% are living with HIV versus a 8% of men. There is also a higher prevalence in young people. 50% of new infections of HIV are by young people. This difference could be due to the knowledge of HIV, men may know more about it and have a better understanding of treatment and preventative actions to take.

An estimated 170,000 children are living with HIV in Malawi. There is estimated to be 530,000 orphans in Malawi as a result of AIDS Although, great reductions have been estimates as high as 67% among HIV infections, which is one of the largest decreases across Africa.
http://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/sub-saharan-africa/malawi