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Britain on Wednesday committed £100 million (about K20 billion) to the Malawi to support the health sector for six years.
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said during the signing of an agreement in Lilongwe on Wednesday government is very delighted and grateful “for this timely massive support, the first of its kind”.
A statement from the British High Commission says that £45 million (K9 billion) of the money will be allocated for an essential health package while £55 million (about K11 billion) will be devoted to improving human resources in the health sector.
Gondwe said the essential health package will ensure that all major interventions to combat infectious diseases and malnutrition are made available and accessible to everyone who needs them, especially the poor vulnerable people.
The human resource programme, Gondwe said, will work to expand training capacity and pay higher salaries to attract and retain health workers in order to reduce the brain drain that has hit the health sector.
“While more physicians and other health personnel are being trained, this programme will also pay for volunteer physicians and nurse tutors to fill the vacant posts that are critical for training and health services,” said Gondwe.
The statement adds that the allocation under the essential health package will also be used to reduce deaths in childhood through an extended programme of immunisation and help with basic nutrition, widespread coverage of insecticide-treated bed nets for the under-fives, and appropriate and timely management of childhood fevers.
The money will also be used to reduce deaths in child bearing and motherhood through skilled attendance at birth, promotion of wider birth spacing, prevention of unwanted pregnancies, and therapy during pregnancy to reduce the burden of malaria.
It will also be used to reduce tuberculosis (TB) through the implementation of Direct Observed Short Course (Dots) strategy.
The aim is to double the number of nurses and triple the number of doctors in the country by expanding the numbers of health professionals in training by an average of over 50 percent.
The announcement of the grant according to the statement represents a 50 percent increase in Department for International Development (DFID)’s health spending in the country.
The British government spends around K11 billion in the country every year on various programmes in health, education, police reform, good governance and other activities.
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