The Ministry of Health has said 558 babies were born in the country on Christmas Day.
Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda has confirmed the development.
“I can confirm that the data that we have collected from health facilities show that a total of 558 babies were born in the country on Christmas alone, of whom 283 were males and 275 were females,” Kandodo Chiponda said.
She said the babies were born in both government and Christian Association of Malawi Hospitals and were born healthy, and their mothers’ spirits were “high”.
However, health rights activist Maziko Matemba has described the figure as high.
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“It is alarming that 558 babies were born on Christmas, considering that Malawi is one of the countries with a high growth rate,” Matemba said.
A report by the National Statistical Office has shown that the country’s fertility rate has gone down from 6.0 percent in 2008 to 4.2 percent in 2018.
This means the average number of children a woman in Malawi is expected to have is four at the end of her reproductive years of 15 to 49 years.
The report projects a decrease in fertility rate from 4.2 percent in 2018 to 2.8 percent in 2050.
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It further shows that for every 1,000 adolescent women aged between 15 and 19 years, there were 118 births, about 78 in urban areas and 128 in rural areas, in 2018.
