A preventive medical examination for a child in Malawi

According to the World Economic Forum (2018), half of all deaths and one-third of all physical disabilities in low-income countries could be avoided if everyone had access to emergency medical care. According to a study, more than 287 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live more than 2 hours' drive from medical care (Ouma et al., 2018). In Malawi, around 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line (World Bank, 2018). Two-thirds of the population live primarily from small-scale farming. Due to the high dependence on agricultural yields, the effects of climate change are increasingly having an impact on the country's food security. These include increased droughts, heavy rainfall and Cyclone Idai, which caused severe damage in the country in March 2019. 82,700 people had to flee their homes (UN OCHA, 2019). Due to poor harvests, over 1.9 million people in the country are currently experiencing a food crisis (IPC, 2020). Many mothers and children are chronically malnourished and undernourished, making them even more vulnerable to disease. The country's maternal and child mortality rates are among the highest in the world. For every 1,000 live births, 50 children die before the age of 5 (UNICEF, 2020). This is also due to inadequate medical care in rural areas. In 2015, Malawi had only 56 hospitals for 17.6 million people (Ouma et al., 2018). The facilities are often poorly equipped, and many have neither electricity nor running water. Another problem is the lack of qualified health personnel. In total, there are just 350 doctors working in the country.