180 babies born on Christmas Day in Malawi

Ministry of Health (MoH) has said at least 180 babies were born on Christmas Day this year compared to over 200 recorded on the same day in 2015.

MoH spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe confirmed the statistics in an interview on Boxing Day and said they took into account babies born in both government and Christian Health Association of Malawi (Cham) health facilities.

According to the statistics and information The Nation has seen, about 63 babies were born in the Northern Region districts of Chitipa, Karonga, Rumphi, Mzimba, Nkhata Bay and Likoma.

Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, which is the main referral centre for the Southern Region, had 26 babies on Christmas Day comprising 13 boys and 13 girls.

On the other hand, according to MoH, the Central Region’s main referral centre, Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe recorded 12 Christmas Day babies.

In Mangochi, district commissioner (DC) James Manyetera confirmed that over 19 babies were born at Mangochi District Hospital while Salima DC Rodney Simwaka said 16 babies were registered on Christmas Day in the district.

Nsanje DC Gift Rapozo confirmed that 17 babies were born on Christmas Day in the district.

MoH and the DCs said they welcome the babies born on Christmas Day because they are special.

The officials said the babies were born healthy and their mothers were in high spirits.

However, according to the statistics, more male babies were born on the day.

Statistics from other districts were not immediately available as we went to press, indicating that the number of babies born on Christmas Day could be higher than that quoted by authorities spoken to. n