Over 30% of Malawi’s population lives in severe poverty, yet it is one of only a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa on track to achieve MDG 4 by reducing under-5 mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. New evidence from a Countdown case study, which sought to better understand Malawi’s successes and challenges in improving health and development among women, newborns, and children, shows that Malawi prevented an estimated 280,000 child deaths between 2000 and 2013 through scale-up of high-impact child health interventions. These new research findings were launched at a high-level event in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital.

The meeting, entitled ‘Malawi: Pioneering the way towards better health for children,’ was led by the Minister of Health, the Hon. Dr. Jean Kalilani, and attended by senior leaders from the Malawian government, UN agencies, and major donors. In addition to presentation of the Countdown case study findings, the event also featured the launch of a new national Child Health Strategy, and presentation of important reports on Malawi’s Every Newborn Action Plan (which will officially launch in August 2015) and on progress on emergency obstetric and newborn care.

The Countdown case study shows that Malawi has dramatically improved child survival since 1990, when 1 in 4 Malawian children died before reaching the age of five; by 2013, only 1 in 14 failed to survive to their fifth birthday. However, progress has been much slower in addressing newborn survival, and the research highlights Malawi’s need to provide universal access to high-quality care at birth, including for small and sick babies. The country’s improvement in child survival was driven by its early adoption and effective implementation of key evidence-based policies and programs. The study estimates that, in the year 2013 alone, 10,000 children were saved by malaria prevention and treatment programs, 8,300 by vaccines, 5,900 by improved nutrition, 5,000 by effective treatment of diarrhea and pneumonia, and 4,500 by HIV/AIDS interventions, and that 3,500 newborn deaths were prevented by improved care provided at and around childbirth.

Simultaneous to the in-country dissemination of the case study’s important findings, Countdown released a one-page Malawi Country Case Study Brief summarizing the study’s key findings in infographic format. At the same time, MamaYe, a campaign to improve maternal and newborn survival in sub-Saharan Africa and a partner in the study, published a series of infographics to highlight the urgent need for political action to reduce stillbirths and improve newborn survival.

The case study, conducted by a team of national and international researchers, led by the Malawi National Statistical Office in partnership with University College London and Johns Hopkins University, is the latest of a series of in-depth case studies for which Countdown has provided technical and financial support. Results have already been disseminated for case studies in  Niger, Bangladesh, Peru, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tanzania, and studies are still underway in China and Kenya.

• Download the Malawi Country Case Study Brief