Health sector gets funding boost

Over the next six years Malawi's health service will receive a £100 million (US $193 million) shot in the arm from the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID). The aid package "will help provide free antiretroviral treatment for more people living with HIV from next year", DFID said in a statement, as well as fund "measures to reduce mother and child deaths, and invest in better training and higher salaries for doctors, nurses and other health workers". The money would also be used to assist volunteer doctors and nurses, who will start arriving in Malawi in six months to fill critical posts. DFID said the allocation would increase the UK's spending on Malawi by 50 percent, and "result in a 30 percent rise in Malawi's total health budget". "Malawi lacks many of the staff it needs, and life expectancy has declined from 48 years in 1990 to 39 years in 2000. A properly resourced health service is crucial if Malawi is to cut the number of children dying before their fifth birthday, and the number of women dying in childbirth, and to provide treatment for Malawians living with HIV," Hilary Benn, UK Secretary of State for International Development, was quoted as saying. "This is a practical response to a public health emergency and it will help save lives. It also offers an innovative solution to the shortage of health workers by paying volunteer doctors and nurse tutors to fill posts," he added. DFID will pool its contribution with funds from the World Bank and Norway to support Malawi's health budget.