The Zakat Foundation of America

Malawi

Malawi is facing a severe food crisis. The crisis is born chiefly out of years of successive droughts. This year yielded 26 per cent less maize than last year’s harvest. Though the country has one of the largest lakes in the continent, irrigation schemes are limited and changing climates and delayed rains have decimated the largely agrarian economy. But what makes the food shortages stretching across Malawi and elsewhere in southern Africa most overwhelming is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Estimates indicate that one in three severely malnourished children and two in five malnourished children in pediatric wards are HIV-positive.