Malawi

I am happy to have this opportunity to address the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. I convey my congratulations Mr. Kerim on his election as President of the Assembly at this session. The Malawi Government would like to assure him of our support in carrying out his duties as President. I also take this opportunity to thank our hosts, President George W. Bush and the Government and the people of the United States of America, for the hospitality accorded to me and my delegation since our arrival in the state of New York. I commend the previous President of the Assembly, Her Excellency Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, for the sterling leadership, direction and guidance she gave in steering the Assembly at its sixty- first session. I wish to focus my address on Malawi’s efforts to meet the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Malawi believes that the MDGs are the tools for enhancing growth and development and for improving the livelihood of people in the poor countries of the world. I am pleased to state that my country is making steady progress in the implementation of the MDGs. We have adopted the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy as a home- grown overarching national policy for creating new wealth, for achieving sustainable economic growth and development and for combating the poverty that still engulfs many of our people. The people of Malawi share a common vision to eliminate poverty in the shortest period possible by transforming the country from a predominantly importing and consuming to a predominantly manufacturing and exporting economy. That, we believe, will enable our country to position itself within the global economy and to compete favourably in the world markets. To achieve that vision, we are implementing a sound system of economic governance in both the public and private sectors. That includes fighting corruption, reform of the public and private sectors, safeguarding human rights and the rule of law, increasing social protection for vulnerable groups, and developing infrastructure for development. My Government has also placed research, science and technology, including information and communications technology, gender empowerment and environmental protection, at the top of our development paradigm. Based on the limitation of our resources, financial and human alike, we have identified six priorities within priorities that we believe can pull Malawi out of the poverty trap. Those include agricultural development and food security, irrigation and water development, transport and communications infrastructure development, energy and power, integrated rural development, and management and prevention of HIV and AIDS. I am pleased to report that the Malawi Government began to implement those priorities in 2004 and that, by 2006, we had achieved a phenomenal growth rate of 8.5 per cent. We therefore believe that the selection of these top priorities is a good one. We are also implementing an effective system of income distribution targeting the rural poor. I can therefore boldly say that the Malawi Government is confident that most of the Millennium Development Goals will be met or even surpassed by the year 2015. I now wish to briefly review some of the Millennium Development Goals. For instance, we are certain to decrease by half the proportion of the population that suffers from extreme poverty and hunger, and to improve their nutritional status by the year 2015. Malawi has also made significant progress in the past three years in reducing poverty. In 1998, for instance, people living below the poverty line represented 53.9 per cent of the total population. That number was reduced to 45 per cent in 2006. For the past two years, Malawi has achieved a high rate of agricultural production and food security. Presently, Malawi has a food surplus amounting to 1.4 million metric tons over and above our national food requirement. We are now able to export food to other countries in southern Africa. Malawi has one of the highest budgetary allocations to agriculture and food security. We are empowering smallholder farmers to access essential farm inputs, mainly seeds and fertilizer, through a subsidy programme. We also support the development of viable small-, medium- and large-scale irrigation schemes to reduce dependence on rain-fed agriculture. The other aspect of the MDGs that Malawi considers critical is the reduction in maternal and child mortality. Here again, my country has achieved remarkable progress, largely through the adoption of the Essential Health Package as the main strategy for the delivery of a cost-effective package of health services through a donor-funded sector-wide approach programme. We are also addressing the challenge to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds by the year 2015 and to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters. We have identified several highly preventable and treatable diseases, such as malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malnutrition. Malawi is therefore on track towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals. We have reduced the rate of child deaths per 1,000 from 189 live births in 2000 to 133 in 2006. In the fight against malaria, Malawi has so far distributed about 5 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets to various households. The percentage of pregnant women and children under five sleeping under treated nets increased from 8 per cent in 2000 to 20 per cent in 2006. In 2007, we plan to give out 3 million more mosquito nets with support from the Global Fund and President George Bush’s Malaria Initiative in that area. One of Malawi’s biggest challenges is the management and prevention of tuberculosis, whose prevalence rate is very high, especially with regard to patients having HIV and AIDS. The Malawi Government has therefore declared tuberculosis to be an emergency and launched a five-year plan for addressing the problem. I am pleased to state that Malawi is one of the few African countries that have been successful in meeting the challenges of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Malawi has also been successful in its public awareness campaign about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its consequences. In 2004, Malawi had 14 voluntary counselling and testing centres, and those have now been increased to 250. Over 5 million people within Malawi have been tested within a period of less than three years. With the support of the Bill Clinton Foundation, Malawi now has over 130,000 people receiving free antiretroviral drugs. Additionally, in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS, we are now reaching over 60 per cent of pregnant women in Malawi. The General Assembly may wish to note that the Malawi national HIV and AIDS and antiretroviral therapy programmes are among the fastest growing in the world and that the pandemic is showing signs of a decline. I wish to reiterate the statement I made to this Assembly in 2006 that we should regard HIV and AIDS not only as a medical crisis, but also as having economic, socio-cultural and political dimensions. That being the case, the solution to the crisis must be comprehensive and holistic. I have therefore established a Department of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS in my Office as a technical arm in implementing the Millennium Development Goals. I am also pleased to report that, from 2004 to date, Malawi has developed a national nutrition policy and accompanying documents as a guide for action. As a result, 350,000 orphans are now getting nutrition support. That has reduced the negative impacts of malnutrition, HIV and AIDS, such as absenteeism, and many of those affected now return to work quickly and are reintegrated into the economy. The Government of Malawi recognizes that water is life. We have therefore placed high priority on the development of our water resources. We are rehabilitating water-supply schemes and are constructing many earthen dams country-wide to allow rural communities access to clean water. Currently, about 66 per cent of the population has access to safe and clean water. Malawi is therefore confident that the MDG on access to water for all will be achieved before 2015. In the area of universal primary education, the MDGs have set the target for universal primary education for both boys and girls. Malawi has a very high budget allocation for education, science and technology, in order to meet the relevant MDG. To date, 60 per cent of Malawi’s children are enrolled in primary schools. We are also creating a conductive teaching and learning environment in order to reduce absenteeism, poor performance and drop-out rates. Malawi is on the right path to achieving the Goal on the management of natural resources and environmental sustainability. We have reviewed our natural resources policies, legislation and programmes to curb the misuse and abuse of natural resources and to prevent environmental degradation. My Government is involving rural communities in the management of such existing resources as forestry, as well as in annual national tree planting for reforestation and the prevention of soil erosion and desertification. Furthermore, the Government is implementing management programmes for the sequestration of carbon, as well as other ecosystem services to encourage the extensive planting of trees. In the area of gender equality the MDGs set out to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women by integrating targeted programmes for women to enable them to become part of economic growth. Malawi has a high level of female adult illiteracy, namely, 48 per cent as compared to 24 per cent for men. However, girls in Malawi also have a high drop- out rate from the formal schooling system, as well as high vulnerability to HIV and AIDS infection. We are addressing those problems. My Government is also empowering women in the political, economic and social areas. In the past three years, there have been more women in ministerial and other management positions than ever before. The following key positions are now held by women: the posts of attorney-general, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, five full Cabinet ministers, one deputy minister, chairperson of the human rights commission, clerk of Parliament and several ambassadors, principal secretaries and chairpersons of statutory corporations. I would like to conclude by stating that Malawi has successfully positioned itself to attain the MDGs. We are optimistic that many of those objectives will be attained. We therefore appeal to the United Nations to recognize Malawi’s heroic efforts and assist us to maintain the development momentum. I would also like to appeal to our development partners to support Malawi’s policy to manufacture new goods and to provide new services to meet the MDGs. We need support to conduct our own research and to apply science and technology including information and communication technology to create new wealth, to build new capacity and to move Malawi from poverty to prosperity.