Malawi Child Rights

* Malawi provides free primary education and the access to early childhood development services has increased from 4 percent to 30 percent * The increase in early childhood development has put a strain on secondary schools which mostly tend to struggle to accommodate children * Primary school enrolment remains voluntary * For girls who do have an education there is a high dropout rate * In addition to this there is the problem of gender inequality; 43% of enrolment is for girls * There are further differences as education is more widely available in cities and towns * There remains a lack of qualified teaching, resources, facilities as well as high student to teacher ratios * The Employment Act effectively eliminates all forms of forced labour, eliminates child labour as well as setting up a minimum age for employment (which is 14 years old). * There are still concerns over children who work in the agricultural sector though * Poverty in Malawi is the main reason for the economic exploitation * The government is working to prevent child labour through proposing the Child (Justice, Care and Protection) Bill as well as through training monitoring committees and inspectors * Approximately 30,000 out of the 100,000 new HIV infections in Malawi every year have been attributed to mother to child transmission. * In general there have been improvements in the provision of health care * This rate of reduction however remains * Disintegrated with a lack of safe water, poor sanitation, and difficult access to health services for the poor and rural. The poorest 20 percent are unlikely to achieve the two-third reduction of infant mortality target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). * There has been a consistent average of 80 percent immunizations coverage for over five years through the Expanded Program of Immunization and the distribution of free treated mosquito nets to children and pregnant mothers is