Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola-Banda says Malawi has made significant strides in aligning with the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action to accelerate sustainable economic development.
He said this on Thursday during the United Nations Commission on Population and Development meeting in New York, United States of America.
He said Malawi’s commitment towards the ICDP programme of action implementation remains a priority.
“For instance, life expectancy in Malawi has jumped from 62 years to 65 years within the past few years with the fertility rate declining to 3.7 from 4.4 children per woman.
“Use of contraceptives moved from 58 percent to 66 percent with the maternal mortality rate dropping from 439 to 381 per 100 000 live births,” said Chithyola-Banda.
The minister said the worrisome challenge was non-communicable diseases which contribute to 40 percent of deaths in Malawi.
Chithyola-Banda said government was providing integrated health services through construction of 900 health posts.
National Statistic Office commissioner Shelton Kanyanda said building and strengthening stronger partnerships with the United Nations (UN) agencies on healthcare systems and resilience would greatly benefit Malawi.
“Malawi is mobilising domestic and external resources through the Integrated National Financing Framework and also impeded climate resilience and emergency preparedness into the health policies,” he said.
The 58th session of the UN Commission on Population and Development for 2025 was held under the theme ‘Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages’ from April 7 to April 11.
