UN Calls Malawi To Tackle Longer-Term Challenges

United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs has said it is critical that government and development partners tackle longer-term challenges which cause recurrent humanitarian crises in Malawi.

Ursula Mueller who is also Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator said this when she completed her three day visit to Malawi.

During the visit Mueller met senior government officials, humanitarian and development partners and visited some of the people affected by the recent Cyclone Idai.

“As flood affected communities rebuild there is need for sustained action to address underlying causes of vulnerability,” Mueller said.

Mueller undertook a joint visit to Malawi with Omar Rabi, Minister and Political Coordinator for Morocco, representing UN Economic and Social Council to appreciate how UN and partners’ assistance to Malawi government flood response has helped save lives and put the affected populations on recovery path.

She was joined by Secretary and Commissioner for Disaster Management Affairs Wilson Moleni, UN Resident Maria Jose Torres and UN team during the mission.

Mueler said with the response transitioning from relief to recovery, and a good harvest expected it is critical to invest in resilience, both of communities and national systems.

On Tuesday, Mueller visited some villages in Chikwawa district where she interacted with some of the flood-affected people.

In her remarks Torres said she was delighted that some of the flood-affected people have already relocated from flood-prone areas to higher grounds while others are growing drought resistant crops in some areas with moisture to still harvest some food.

She said “communities that were affected by floods this year need to build back better so that they have houses and livelihoods that cannot collapse should climate change impact hit them again in future.”

On his part, Moleni commended UN and partners for supporting flood response, saying government now needs adequate resources to meet recovery needs of flood-affected populations.

In early March, heavy rains and flooding linked to Cyclone Idai killed 60 people, displaced nearly 87,000 people and affected around 870,000 persons in Malawi, necessitating life-saving humanitarian interventions in 15 affected districts.

During the response, UN agencies, in collaboration with Government of Malawi, national and international agencies, have provided immediate life-saving relief support including food, medicine, shelter, protection services and other non-food-items such as water, sanitation and hygiene supplies.