Malawi: Life in your years

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

Life expectancy in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, increased by 19 years (from 46 to 65) from 2000 to 2019 - mostly due to reductions in mortality from HIV, TB and malaria, and declines in childhood diseases. What does this very rapid demographic change mean for governments, policy planners and ordinary people now living so much longer? Will overstretched health and social protection services be able to cope with the demands that come with longer lives - rapidly increasing non-communicable diseases and dementia, and caring for a growing elderly population? Leah Malekano and Ruth Evans ask how we can ensure there is 'life' in those additional years in one of the most aid-dependent countries in the world.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you take a country like Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world,
0:10.0	in 2000, life expectancy in Malawi was 46.
0:14.0	By 2019, so 19 years later, life expectancy was 65.
0:22.0	So that's a 19-year increase in 19 years.
0:26.9	Peter Sands is the Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight HIV, TB and malaria.
0:33.0	Two-thirds of that 19-year increase in life expectancy
0:37.1	were due to the reductions in mortality of HIV, TB and malaria.
0:43.7	This is an astonishing achievement that should be celebrated.
0:48.4	But on the flip side, what does this very rapid demographic change mean for governments, policy planners
0:54.3	and above all, ordinary
0:55.9	people now living so much longer.
0:58.9	I am Leia Maligano,
1:00.1	a Malawian journalist. And I'm Ruth Evans
1:02.4	and together in this BBC
1:03.9	World Service documentary, Life in Your
1:05.9	Years, we'll be exploring the
1:07.9	accuracy of these statistics.
1:10.1	And asking what it means for countries like Malawi.
1:16.5	These are my twin boys, Michael and Micah, born six months ago.
1:22.4	Mommy, how are you?
1:23.9	I'm fine, baby.
1:25.1	And this is my daughter, and she's just four years.
	...

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