Humanitarian crisis looms

The picture being painted tells it all. Janet Ng’ong’ola’s child, tightly wrapped to her bosom, buries his face onto her mother’s chest to breastfeed as his partially wobbly and soft legs fly out in expression of joy.

After suckling for about a minute, the child snaps and sorrowfully flashes a probing gaze at her mother: It’s a look that seemingly expresses both confusion and loss.

“Mwina mkaka wa thamo [maybe I have run out of milk],” wonders his 30-year-old mother. “sindinadye cha dzulo [I haven’t had food since yesterday].”

Ng’ong’ola, a single mother of four, last Wednesday walked for about six kilometres from her Nakholo Village in Traditional Authority Kaduya to Migowi Trading Centre in Phalombe District in search of pieceworks.

“We don’t have food at home,” she opens up, “I came here to raise some money so I can feed my children.”

However, as time was ticking towards evening all signs pointed to a fruitless day having not secured any piecework.

This day just adds a new layer of turmoil to Ng’ong’ola’s life. Cyclone Freddy took away her house earlier this year and her husband divorced her when she was pregnant, burdening her with the responsibility of looking after the family.

Piling further misery, Ng’ong’ola’s name was struck off the Affordable Inputs Programme—a flagship programme offering subsidised farm inputs to poor farmers— and social cash transfer, a programme that offers safety nets to needy households.

“Life has been hard for us. We are surviving on mango porridge. We eat once a day,” Ng’ong’ola’s says, with desperation evident in her husky voice.

Her destitution mirrors the situation of many Malawians with Unicef, a United Nations agency forecasting that 9.4 million, nearly half of the country’s population, will require humanitarian assistance in 2024.

Unicef estimated last year that 5.6 million people would require humanitarian aid in 2023. The latest projections, means 3.5 million more will slide into destitution in 2024, representing a 67.8 percent increase.

In its appeal for aid on its website, www.unicef.org, Unicef which supports disadvantaged children, said among those that will require aid are 4.8 million children. This year those needing support stood at 2.9 million. The difference represents a 65.5 percent leap.

Unicef attributes the projected increase to past and current natural disasters and disease outbreaks such as cholera; poverty, recurring economic challenges and El Niño—which scientists predict will reduce crop production and drive thousands into poverty.

“Malawi is at high risk for climate shocks, and the El Niño weather pattern is projected to bring dry conditions that will aggravate current chronic food insecurity in 22 out of Malawi’s 28 districts…

“These nutrition and health conditions are intertwined with a backdrop of increased poverty and recurring economic challenges.

 “All told, approximately 9.4 million people, including 4.8 million children, will require humanitarian assistance in Malawi in 2024,” Unicef writes in the appeal.

The UN agency adds that it will require $47.4 million (about K81 billion) to “expedite child-centric, disability-inclusive and gender-sensitive humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable populations.

“[This will include] those in hard-to-reach areas. Unicef will continue to invest in communities and civil society organisations and support government-led resilience building, preparedness measures and humanitarian response operations.”

In his analysis, Alexander Kalimira, a nutrition expert and a Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources lecturer, has described the forecast as “quite a precarious situation.”

He warned that if enough resources are not raised, Malawi will backslide in its fight against underweight, wasting and stunting. 

“The progress we have made in the past are now going to come to a standstill or worse still we may even start regressing; going backwards on the progress we have made in reducing various forms of under nutrition; vitamin and minerals deficiencies,” he cautioned in an interview on Friday.

 Kalimira added that the worst victims will be “most vulnerable groups” such as under-five children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with different kinds of diseases.

“Diseases are now going to be on the rise and hospitals will definitely see far more people who are ill than before, if the situation is not addressed.

“When you put together all these issues I have talked about, we are going to experience a reduction in the rate of development of individuals, families and ultimately our nation,” he said.

The funds Unicef will raise will only target 5.9 million people, including 3.6 million children; 1.9 million girls and nearly 600 000 children with disabilities).

“The requested funding will accelerate Unicef’s humanitarian response in the country and support people’s access to safe drinking water, sanitation, hygiene items, health, nutrition, education, child protection services and humanitarian cash assistance,” it further points out.

The funding, Unicef explains that it will help it to sustain optimal levels of emergency preparedness.

“Unicef requires urgent and flexible funding to ensure no child is left behind. Without such funding, Unicef cannot support the Government of Malawi and its partners in responding to multiple crises – the impact of the El Niño phenomenon, the cholera outbreak, floods and food insecurity,” further reads its report.

The Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare said it would not comment on the estimates while the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs said it would wait for the 2024 Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (Mvac) report before making financial commitments.

“Let us wait on the next Mvac report which will accurately estimate the vulnerability situation and suggest the required response measures,” said its spokesperson Taurai Banda in  response to our questionnaire on Friday.

According to the World Food Programme, malnutrition in Malawi  contributes to preventable child deaths. It says 37 percent of children in Malawi are affected by stunting while only eight percent of children aged between six and 23 months meet the minimum acceptable diet.

Stunted children are more likely to drop out of school and repeatedly experience lower productivity later in life, the UN agency says.