Our dying Malawi

I am not an alarmist but as a Malawian who has had a taste of rural and our cities i am failing to come to terms to understand how we have been let down. In the old days, whenever someone died, we kids could be locked in the house. I must think it was meant to show that death was scarely, unique and whatever one could think of.But look now! Death is as common as breakfast.

The situation has changed of late. Deaths of our people have become so common. Everyday you drive on the main highways that connect our cities,,,the sight of a pickup truck flashing hazards is too common. We are dying young and the burden of caring for the ones we leave behind is so huge. Who is going to enjoy the fruits of economic growth? Are there any fruits? Our nation is full of young people in their productive years and this is the group that is dying enmass.

Where have we got it wrong? Should we blame everything on AIDS? Is it the last days as the Bible suggests. Malawians are very humble people and I am sorry to say that we lack ambition too. This is reflected in our politicians who run the affairs of this country. We have not invested enough in health care system but we have always belived that we have a good health system. Very wrong indeed. I think the health care systems in our neighbouring countries are much better. But sometimes we have never been serious in improving the health care of our people. If the momentum that we had over free primary eduaction in 1994 was spread to health, maybe things could have changed. We have wasted alot of time blaming Western countries who recruit our nurses and doctors. We have sat back and done nothing. Government with the help of donors has been topping up salaries of medical personnel but it is not working. We have sat back trying to treat a symptom instead of hitting the problem at its core. Where is the equipment that a doctor needs to work with? Nanga chipatala chizikhala opanda ma gloves? Where does all the money that is put in the budget go? Nanga chipatala chizikhala opanda ma drip?