Malawi - Unmet Need for Family Planning, 2010 Twenty-six percent of currently married women in Malawi have an unmet need for family planning. This represents a significant reduction from 1992, when 36 percent of married women reported an unmet need for family planning. Family planning needs are highest in Machinga and Nkhotakota and remain high among rural women (27 percent), women without an education (28 percent), and the poorest women (30 percent). Investing in health programs that meet needs for family planning could slow population growth, improve women's and families' health and well-being, and reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts. Malawi's Growth and Development Strategy recognizes the important role that access to reproductive health services plays in slowing population growth and promoting maternal health outcomes. Definition: Unmet need for family planning is determined in large household surveys. Based on a nationally representative sample, currently married women who do not wish to have a child in the next two years but are not using a contraceptive method are considered to have an unmet need for family planning. This includes women who wish to have no more children at any time. Surveys are conducted through the MEASURE DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys) project; for more information about its methodology, see: http://www.measuredhs.com/aboutsurveys/dhs/methodology.cfm The 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey groups Nkhata Bay and Likoma together under one heading. Sources: National Statistical Office (NSO) [Malawi], and ORC Macro. 2011. Malawi Demographic and Health Survey 2010. Calverton, Maryland: NSO and ORC Macro. Government of Malawi. Malawi Growth and Development Strategy: From Poverty to Prosperity, 2006-2011.
Malawi - Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, 2010 The use of modern contraceptive methods in Malawi is six times what it was in 1992, growing from 7 percent of married women to 42 percent. The rate of increase between 2004 and 2010 was quite high, gaining 14 percentage points during that time period. The contraceptive prevalence rate is lowest in Mangochi, where only 27 percent of currently married women use a modern contraceptive method and women have, on average, 7children. Contraceptive prevalence among women with a secondary education is 11 percentage points higher than that of women with no education, and similar disparities exist between women in the wealthiest and poorest income groups. In recognition of the important role family planning can play in promoting women's and family's health and well-being and slowing population growth, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy includes a medium term outcome of increasing the contraceptive prevalence rate to 40 percent. Definition: The current level of contraceptive use is determined in large household surveys and is a measure of actual contraceptive practice at the time of the survey. This measure refers to currently married women using modern methods of contraception. Modern methods include condoms, the contraceptive pill, intrauterine contraceptive device, injectables, implants, diaphragm, contraceptive foam and contraceptive jelly, lactational amenorrhea method, female sterilization, male sterilization, country-specific modern methods and respondent-mentioned other modern contraceptive methods. The 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey groups Nkhata Bay and Likoma together under one heading. Sources: National Statistical Office (NSO) [Malawi], and ORC Macro. 2011. Malawi Demographic and Health Survey 2010. Calverton, Maryland: NSO and ORC Macro.
Government of Malawi. Malawi Growth and Development Strategy: From Poverty to Prosperity, 2006-2011.
Malawi - Fertility Rate, 2010 The total fertility rate in Malawi declined very slightly from an average of 6 children per woman in 2004 to 5.7 children per woman in 2010. National averages mask substantial differences in fertility among different groups. Rural women have on average 2.1 more children than urban women, women with no education have on average 3 more children than those with a secondary education, and women in the lowest wealth quintile have 3 more children than those in the wealthiest group. The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (2006-2011) links reductions in high fertility with improved prospects for maternal health, reproductive health rights, and slower population growth. Definition: The total fertility rate is the total number of births a woman would have by the end of her childbearing period if she were to pass through those years bearing children at currently observed age-specific rates. The 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey groups Nkhata Bay and Likoma together under one heading. Sources: National Statistical Office (NSO) [Malawi], and ORC Macro. 2011. Malawi Demographic and Health Survey 2010. Calverton, Maryland: NSO and ORC Macro. Government of Malawi. Malawi Growth and Development Strategy: From Poverty to Prosperity, 2006-2011.
Malawi - Climate Risk Factors
Climate-related disasters such as drought, flood, and landslides are a major source of risk, especially for Malawi's poorest and most vulnerable populations. Understanding where these risks occur in relation to each other and with growing populations will be critical in developing adaptation and development plans that will minimize vulnerability to changing climate conditions. Definitions: Landslide: The landslide data shows the propensity for a landslide or an avalanche to occur. The index of hazard risk is based on an a model developed by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) that incorporates slope, soil moisture, soil moisture conditions, precipitation, seismicity, temperature and elevation data. Drought: Frequency and distribution of droughts from 1980-2000. To identify droughts, researchers associated with the Center for Hazards and Risk Research compared the average monthly precipitation for the 20 year period to a standardized measure of precipitation deficit or surplus that accounts for seasonal variation in precipitation for the same time period. A drought is considered to have occurred when a monthly precipitation deficit was less than or equal to 50 percent of its long-term median value for three or more consecutive months. Deserts and dry periods are taken out of the dataset and are therefore not considered in the frequency or distribution of droughts. Flood: Frequency and distribution of floods from 1985-2003. Data from a global listing of extreme flood events was converted to a 2.5 by 2.5 minute grid cell. The number of events that fell within each grid cell was recorded to get a frequency of events per cell. Data Classification: Researchers associated with the Center for Hazards and Risk Research classified the global datasets of drought and flood frequencies into deciles which created 10 classes, each containing roughly equal number of grid cells. The landslide data was classified by researchers into areas ranked one through nine, with nine as the highest propensity for a landslide. Then,
they dropped anything with an index of four or below as they determined these risks to be negligible. To make the data surface compatible with the other hazard datasets, a one was added to the classes that remained (five through nine) and therefore the landslide data has a range of six through ten. The maps we have created for each risk factor individually group the data into low, moderate and high categories. The low category contains values one through three, moderate contains values four through seven, and the high category contains values eight through ten. The final climate risk map shows each of the factors on one map but only includes the data values considered to be moderate (four through seven) or high (eight through ten). Source: Landslide, Drought and Flood Frequency and Distribution Datasets, 2005. Palisades, NY: Center for Hazards and Risk Research, Columbia University.
Malawi - Historic and Projected Population Density by District 2010 2020 2030 With a growing population, population density in Malawi has increased dramatically over the past decades, and is expected to intensify by 2030. As Malawi's population continues to grow,
understanding where population density is likely to rapidly intensify and intersect with climate change risks such as flood, drought and landslides will be critical for effective adaption planning and disaster risk reduction. Definition: Historic figures for population density at the district level and total projected population at the district level are provided by the National Statistical Office of Malawi; PAI derived projected population density figures using National Statistical Office data. Please note that population density figures for Mwanza are inclusive of data for Neno. Sources: National Statistical Office of Malawi. 2008. Statistical Yearbook 2008. Zomba, Malawi: National Statistical Office. National Statistical Office of Malawi. 2008. 2008 Population and Housing Census. Zomba, Malawi: National Statistical Office.
Malawi - Proportion of Households with Access to Safe Water by District, 2009 Safe water is critical in promoting health and well-being. The proportion of Malawi's population using an improved drinking water source has made gains in recent decades (see graph on Proportion of the Population Using an Improved Drinking water Source). However, in many districts, particularly Kasungu and Dowa, households' access to safe water remains limited. As population density in these districts increases, and climate change brings further hydrological changes to Malawi, continued progress in meeting people's needs for sufficient safe water could become a growing challenge. Definition: Safe/improved water sources are boreholes (or communal standpipes), protected wells, and tap water (piped into dwelling unit or compound). Source: National Statistical Office, Agriculture Statistics Division, 2009. Welfare Monitoring Survey.