According to Dr. Kalilani, overpopulation is largely to blame for the overcrowding of hospitals saying, “We are doing our best to decongest the hospitals, but what is happening is that we are just making too many children and the population is growing and there will be more patients going to the hospital.” (Nyasa Times) As of 2011, Malawi’s hospital bed density was 1.3/1,000 people, meaning that for every 1,000 people in Malawi there is 1.3 beds available in a medical care facility. This can lead to hospitals being unable to accommodate all patients and sometimes putting more than one person in a bed or having patients sleep on the floor or in hallways. In some cases, hospital overcrowding forces hospitals to release patients as quickly as possible to accommodate those with the greatest need. Situations like this have an effect on everyone’s health, especially the health of children and pregnant women. In Malawi the infant mortality rate is 48.01 deaths/ 1,000 live births and the maternal mortality rate is 460 deaths/ 100,000 live births. As Dr. Kalilani puts it, if there were less infants and pregnant mothers, hospitals would be more capable of providing better care to mothers and children and reduce these rates.
The current situation in Malawi is, however, better than it has been. The fertility rate has dropped from 7.62 children per woman in 1980; the infant and mother mortality rates have dropped respectively and the life expectancy has risen to 59.99 years of age. This is largely due to international attention to the issue of overpopulation: countries around the world are seeing the effects of population increase and Governments, NGOs and other organizations have begun family planning and education programs to help reduce the rate. The Malawian Government even recently increased the minimum age of marriage to 18 in the hopes of increasing the age at first birth and reducing maternal/infant mortality rates. (Reuters) A large part of the issue is a lack of understanding of reproductive health and contraceptive choices.
Contraceptive prevalence (the number of sexually active women who use some form of contraception during intercourse) in Malawi is 46.1% currently, meaning that about half of all women will admit to using contraception. As for the other half there are three main barriers: cultural acceptance; accessibility, and; understanding. In some areas in Malawi (particularly rural areas) women need their husband’s or even elders’ permission to use contraception, meaning that on top of educating women of their reproductive choices there also needs to be education for men and the village as a whole. This education can help to relieve the confusion and disapproval for contraception in the eyes of everyone making it easier for women to seek contraception if they desire it. Another issue is accessibility. Women need access to reliable reproductive care that is affordable. Some people cannot afford condoms or other forms of contraception and need options for how to protect themselves at little or no cost to them. Finally, education is key: proper hygiene and understanding of contraceptive choices/ methods can help everyone to stay healthy. (IRIN)
This blog was written by Zoey Ponder
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