Health and productivity

Poor health hinders productivity. Two of the major health concerns in this area are HIV/AIDS and Malaria. In Malawi, HIV prevalence is around 12.4% (according to AHOSO info) for those aged 15-49. The higher end of the age bracket is the age of life expectancy.  In the district I live, the prevalence is 17.8%. There are 6 HIV positive females for every 1 male and HIV/AIDS is the credited cause of status for half of the 1,050,000 OVC in Malawi.

A note on Malaria....

My watchman Laston has not been here in over a week likely due to Malaria. Smart, the Program Coordinator at AHOSO who I should be working with has been away looking after his son, who has malaria. The executive director did not come to work yesterday...malaria. Anecdotally, malaria prevents people from doing their jobs. An organization recently stopped distributing bed nets, not because of the lack of effectiveness but because of their repurposed use.  People use them in the rivers instead of in their homes. Why worry about getting malaria if you first need to worry eating, it’s a pretty basic recurring fatalistic approach.

A note on HIV/AIDS

According to Dr. Stanley Last name indecipherable, you cannot get free ARVs unless your CD4 count in below 200, they are hoping to get that number up to 350. ARV also stands for Anti Rabies Vaccine so you have to be specific when you ask questions.