World Patient Safety Day 2025 webinar: Patient safety from the start
August 29, 2025
World Patient Safety Day 2025 webinar: Patient safety from the start
Country action
Malawi
Photo © 2023 WHO / Gary Chong Studios – Faris Syazwan:
Ismaziah, a community nurse and midwife, assesses the child’s health and runs through the standard medical protocol checklist.
Every Woman Every Newborn in Malawi
Download the full profile with additional key demographics, progress against milestones, and more.
This profile was developed in May 2023, using data from 2018-2023.
National mortality targets
Maternal mortality ratio
140 per 100,000 live births by 2030
Stillbirth rate
No data
Neonatal mortality rate
12 per 1,000 live births by 2030
Progress to meet the national maternal, newborn mortality and stillbirth reduction targets
©UNICEF/WHO.
Progress to meet Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere coverage targets
MNH Acceleration Plan highlights
In 2024, some of Malawi’s MNH Acceleration Plan priorities include:
- Quality of care standards and respectful maternal care implemented in health facilities.
- Improve communication and transport for referral
- Conduct outreach clinics for hard-to-reach areas
- Develop a community scorecard on MNH
©UNFPA/Luis Tato. Ruth Domi, a mother who delivered her baby recently poses for a portrait in the maternity ward at Ntchisi District Hospital in Ntchisi, Malawi in October 2021.
©UNICEF/Eldson Chagara. A mother demonstrates the Kangaroo Mother Care technique at Bwaila Maternity Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi, in April 2010.
Quality of care in Malawi
Malawi is one of the 11 countries that set-up the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (Quality of Care Network). Malawi’s successes in improving quality of care for maternal, newborn and child health are essential to help reduce maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths. These include:
- A National Quality Management Policy is implemented.
- The World Health Organization’s standards to improve quality of maternal and newborn care, small and sick newborns care, and children and young adolescents care in health facilities are adopted.
- Malawi added an additional standard for community engagement and social accountability activities and outcomes. Malawi established social accountability structures at national level to ensure the provision of quality MNCH services across all health facilities.
- Training for quality improvement in MNCH is expanded nationally to all 29 districts.
- A national MNCH online learning platform on quality of care was set up for frontline health workers with over 1200 health enrolled, as part of their continuous professional development.
- A plan to strengthen the health workforce, especially neonatal nurses is underway.
News and events
Launching the webinar Series: Strengthening product ecosystems for maternal & newborn health
August 20, 2025
A four-part series on increasing access to quality, life-saving maternal and newborn health products.
New guide on respectful maternal and newborn care
August 11, 2025
A new implementation guide to help countries provide respectful, dignified care and eliminate mistreatment across maternal and newborn health services
Resources
Compendium on respectful maternal and newborn care
August 7, 2025
The compendium supports efforts to end mistreatment and achieve respectful maternal and newborn care. It is published by WHO together with UNFPA, UNICEF and the United Nations’ Special Programme on Human Reproduction (HRP), with support from Jhpiego and the MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership programme.
Maternal and Newborn Health Fund Annual Impact Report 2024
July 16, 2025
UNFPA released the Maternal and Newborn Health Fund Annual Impact Report 2024. Since 2010, countries supported by the Maternal and Newborn Health Fund have reduced maternal mortality by 40%, nearly twice the global rate, contributing to avert an estimated 75,000 maternal deaths. The Maternal and Newborn Health Fund is UNFPA’s flagship initiative to expand equitable access to quality reproductive, maternal, and newborn healthcare.
Programme manager’s handbook for maternal, child and adolescent health
July 2, 2025
The World Health Organization maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health e-handbook is a new resource for Ministry of health programme managers. It offers step-by-step guidance for implementing effective health programmes, from planning to monitoring and evaluation, with concise overviews of key activities and interventions along the life course.
The e-handbook references WHO documents, to ensure that programme managers have access to evidence-based strategies and best practices tailored to various contexts.
This e-handbook contains a prioritised list of documents; for a full list of documents go to the resource library for maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health and ageing: https://uhcc.who.int/mca/