The Government of Italy has announced a €20 million [approximately MK40 billion at the current rate] package towards upscaling HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis (TB) and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) services in Malawi.
Director General for Developing Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Italy, Stefano Gatti, announced the news at the launch of two new projects in Lilongwe on Tuesday. The two projects are called Inter-Linked and Not Too Late.
The INTER-LINKED project is coordinated by the University of Rome Tor Vergata together with Kamuzu University of Health Sciences together with the Comunità di Sant’ Egidio and Peace and Development Trust, aims to strengthen the integration of services for HIV, TB, NCDs and cervical cancer.
On the other hand, Not Too Late Initiative will be implemented by the Comunità di Sant’Egidio ACAP in partnership with Tor Vergata, District Health Offices (DHOs), and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It targets a critical gap in our healthcare system: the late diagnosis of HIV and TB among youth.
Through outreach, youth-friendly services, and data-driven research, this project is giving young women, sex workers, and key vulnerable populations dignity, voice, and hope.
The launch of the two projects heralds Good News for Malawians as the support is coming at a time the government and its partners have been brainstorming on how to find an alternative source of funding for HIV and Aids programmes following recent withdrawal of aid by United States of America (USA) agencies.
The withdrawal of funding for HIV and Aids programs ignited fears among Malawians that the fight against the epidemic would be negatively impacted, potentially leading to a rise in new infections, increased mortality, and the collapse of community-based programs.
There were further fears that this could eventually reverse decades of progress and disproportionately affect vulnerable populations.
But Gatti assured that his government will never leave Malawi, and other African countries, alone in achieving their development aspirations, emphasizing that Malawi is one of the priority countries for his government.
“Now these two projects are two of many projects that we are launching during our visit of the delegation of the Italian system of development cooperation that I held here in Malawi. Since last year, Malawi is a priority candidate for Italian development cooperation, so our commitment was to come back with projects, not only with announcements, and here we are launching projects this year. We have a commitment of more than 20 million euros,” he said.
Gatti disclosed that the funds will be channeled through Community of Sant’ Egidio – a lay Catholic association dedicated to social service. Through its Disease Relief through Excellent and Advanced Means (DREAM) Program, the Community of Sant’ Egidio is managing 50 health facilities in Africa, with 13 of them being in selected districts in Malawi.
“Italy has a plan for Africa, the school limited plan for Africa. Seventy percent of our resources are devoted to Africa, and Malawi is now a new priority country. So this is one of many projects that we are launching now, and we will continue to launch in the next years,” said Gatti, stating that the projects will run for three years, with a possibility of extension.
In addition to the health sector, Gatti – who is also the Italian Special Envoy for Food Security – disclosed that his government will work with the Government of Malawi in transforming agriculture, with a focus on coffe.
At this point, the Special Envoy challenged Malawian coffe farmers to produce more, disclosing that his country will provide ready market for the commodity.
“As you know, Italy is one of the biggest coffee transformers in the world, and our company wants to come here and buy coffee from Malawi. But in order to buy it, you have to produce it more, much more than what Malawi is producing it in a sustainable way and providing jobs for a lot of young people. But now in coffee, we are starting the discussions. Once we have agreed with the Government of Malawi, the National Strategy for Development of Coffee Sector, Italy will be supporting it, financing it, and having our companies and our partners and technology coming here and work with so that is for the next months of years,” he narrated.
In her remarks, DREAM Head of Programs and Director of Clinical Services, Dr. Hawa Mammary Sangare, described the package as a leap in their desire to reach every corner of Malawi with their services.
Sangare said the new projects will enable them to not only extend its services to other areas, but also to upscale NCDs in their programming.
“This is a new funding, but in terms of projects, the programs we are going to run is scaling up of the already existing programs we have speaking about epilepsy, HIV, TB, cervical cancer, those are the programs we are running as a country, but which needs more support,” she said.
In his appreciation remarks, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Samson Kwazizira Mndolo, said the new projects represent not just another chapter in Malawi’s ongoing efforts to improve the health, but a bold and strategic leap forward in addressing the most pressing challenges we face as a nation at this time of global shift mechanisms.
According to Mndolo, HIV/Aids, TB, NCDs, and women’s cancers are not isolated issues, as they are interconnected burdens that people, especially the most vulnerable, carry every day.
The PS disclosed that in 2024, Malawi registered 991, 000 people who were living with HIV and we continue to register 11, 800 new HIV infections, a substantial proportion of which 3, 000 occur among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW).
“TB, which remains the second leading cause of death, continues to present a critical threat, especially in cases of co-infection with HIV. At the same time, NCDs are on the rise. Hypertension affects nearly 33 percent of adults, while six percent live with diabetes. We must also consider that cervical cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in our country,” he explained.