Improved healthcare on the cards as aid resumes

Ordinary Malawians can expect to see an improvement in medical care as international donors step in to rescue the country's ailing health system. The impact of HIV/AIDS is reflected in a rising death toll, while health services have been hard hit by drug shortages due to budget cuts; an exodus of medical personnel to richer western nations is threatening to cripple the already struggling sector. To ease some of the pressure, the World Bank (WB) last week announced a US $15 million grant, aimed at bolstering patient care. The funds are also expected to kick-start hospital maintenance and improve the salaries of healthcare workers. According to the Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi, an estimated 650 nurses have left the country since 2000. Although 8,000 nurses are registered with the council, only around 4,000 of them are employed. The WB grant follows on the heels of a US $193 million donation from the United Kingdom's Department for International Development in 2004, which was expected to help provide free antiretroviral treatment to more people living with HIV, and fund measures to reduce the maternal and child mortality rates. Aid to former president Bakili Muluzi's administration was frozen by the International Monetary Fund and major Western donors in 2002, in a response to government overspending and lack of transparency. However, recently elected President Bingu wa Mutharika's drive to rid Malawi of high-level corruption has found favour with donors, and aid flows have resumed since he took office last year. After almost two years without aid, the WB gave Malawi $27.2 million to support the government's Fiscal Management and Accelerating Growth programme (FIMAG) in September last year. The WB country director for Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Hartwig Schafer, said: "The World Bank will continue to monitor progress and the ability to release the second FIMAG tranche will be closely linked to the continued strong implementation of macroeconomic and structural reforms."