ABSTRACT
Lake Chilwa Basin illustrates the linkages between public health, population and climate variability and change. The basin communities articulated the linkages between population growth, deforestation and reduction in water flows and rainfall, which in turn affect food security. Population pressures have resulted in increased demand for public health services such as treatment for bilharzia, cholera, demand for family planning and other reproductive health services. Through the Lake Chilwa Basin Climate Change Adaptation Programme, communities in the basin are aware of the linkages between reproductive health and the environment. They have noted that poverty, poor reproductive health, lack of access to family planning and population growth were exacerbating environmental degradation. Conversely, lack of access to reproductive health services is an impediment to their effective adaptation to climate change and variability. The chapter recommends, among others, to integrate public health services and population issues into the climate change management programmes and policies of Malawi. This can be done using the Population, Environment and Health (PHE) approach which addresses multiple needs and linkages in a rural setting.
