Community, social group, and individual level correlates of rural Malawian men's and women's reproductive health intentions and practices.

Using a sample of 656 men and 930 women from rural Malawi in 2000, the authors examined the association between various individual and community level factors, as well as participation in social groups, and four reproductive health outcomes: intentions to use any contraceptives in the next six months, current use of modem contraceptives, wanting an HIV test, and having had an HIV test. Women in social groups have higher odds of reporting intentions to use contraceptives, wanting an HIV test, and of having had an HIV test than those not in groups. Among men, social group participation is only slightly associated with having had an HIV test.

Health systems strengthening in conflict situations.

Many people in Africa live in fragile states where conflicts are common. These countries are under pressure to deliver health services within their limited capacity. This paper looks at ways of strengthening health systems in conflict and post-conflict situations at a time when many African countries are emerging from conflict.

Sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS risk perception in the Malawi tourism industry.

Malawi has for a long time relied on agriculture for the generation of foreign exchange. Due to varied reasons like climate change, the Malawi government has, therefore, identified tourism as one way of boosting foreign exchange earnings and is already in the process of developing the sector especially in the area of ecotourism. However, tourism is associated with increasing prostitution, drug abuse and a whole range of other sexual and reproductive health (SRH) problems such as teenage pregnancies, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

A pilot study to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of local terminology for malaria screening among children in rural Malawi.

Background: Malaria is a serious health problem in Malawi. It is responsible for 43% of all out patient visits and 19% of all deaths occurring to children under five years of age. Rapid diagnosis and appropriate treatment can avert most malaria deaths.

Integration of nutrition in the antiretroviral therapy scale up plan for Malawi.

Malawi is one of the countries experiencing an unprecedented HIV/AIDS epidemic in an environment where malnutrition is rampant. In 2001 Malawi started providing ARVs to HIV patients. This ARV programme is now being scaled up to cover the whole country.

Potential acceptability of microbicides in HIV prevention in stable marital relationships in Malawi.

Background: The XVII International Conference on AIDS held in Mexico City in August 2008 emphasised the importance of dual prevention using both vaccines and microbicides in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Microbicides are important because they constitute one of the potentially important female-controlled methods of HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention, especially in Malawi where the use of the female condom has not yet been fully embraced.

Methods: A qualitative study utilising focus group discussions was used to assess the acceptability of the microbicide nonoxynol-9 (N-9) as part of the ongoing Preparatory AIDS Vaccine Evaluation (PAVE) studies.

The effectiveness of the TBA programme in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity in Malawi.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the role of TBAs and the quality of their services in contributing to the reduction of maternal deaths in Malawi.

Methods: This study used a qualitative research methodology involving key informant and in-depth interviews, observation and focus group interviews.

Results: The study found that most of the people rely on traditional birth attendants although the quality of their services is poor due to illiteracy, their ailing age, lack of supplies and equipment and general absence of supervision.

Self treatment of eye diseases in Malawi.

Self-treatment for eye diseases is very common in most developing countries yet there has been little investigation of such attitudes and practices. In many settings, people do not proceed beyond self-treatment and do not receive care from either traditional healers or Western eye care providers. Visual impairment and blindness can be the result.

Social, economic and demographic determinants of sexual risk behaviors among men in rural Malawi: A district-level study.

Data from a survey of 715 men aged 20-44 from Mangochi district of Malawi were used to assess the sociodemographic and economic determinants of (1) having ever paid for sex, (2) total number of sex partners in the past year, and (3) having ever used condoms. Different individual characteristics were associated with each of these sexual behaviors. Polygamy and being a fisherman who has left home for over a month in the past year for work reasons were both positively associated with having ever paid for sex, whereas those with more household wealth were less likely to have paid for sex.

Factors associated with HIV/AIDS knowledge and risk perception in rural Malawi.

Measures of HIV/AIDS knowledge and risk perception are important because they are often linked to behavioral change both in theory and in practice. This study examines knowledge and risk perception by assessing their relationship with demographic characteristics, first source of HIV/AIDS information, and behavioral and cognitive risk exposures among men and women in a rural district of Malawi. The data come from a panel study of 940 women aged 15-34 years and 661 men aged 20-44 years.