Southern Region, Malawi

Domestically, the Southern Region borders the Central Region and Lake Malawi to the north.{{Cite OpenStreetMap|url=https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/3365670|access-date=12 February 2025}} Internationally, it borders the country of Mozambique to the east, west, and south.

Of the 28 districts in Malawi, 13 are located within the Southern Region: Balaka, Blantyre, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Machinga, Mangochi, Mulanje, Mwanza, Neno, Nsanje, Phalombe, Thyolo, and Zomba.{{Cite web |last=Project |first=Malawi |date=2022-02-02 |title=Malawi's Southern Region |url=https://www.malawiproject.org/malawis-southern-region/ |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=Malawi Project |language=en-US}}

The region is home to several parks: Majete Wildlife Reserve, Lengwe National Park, and Liwonde National Park (the last of these on the Shire River). It is also home to the Zomba Plateau as well as Mount Mulanje (the highest point in the country).{{Cite report |url=https://ghi.llu.edu/sites/ghi.llu.edu/files/docs/CultureGram%20-%20Malawi.pdf |title=CultureGrams World Edition 2018: Republic of Malawi |date=2018 |access-date=12 February 2025}}

During July, the region sometimes experiences a damp fog, locally known as chiperoni.

File:Children of Chikwawa by VOA.jpg

The Southern Region is home to about half of all Malawians.{{Cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=R. |date=1969 |title=Cattle in Malawi's Southern Region |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29778215 |journal=The Society of Malawi Journal |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=57–72 |jstor=29778215 |issn=0037-993X}} Of these, about 90% of them live in rural areas.

As of 2003, the Southern Region has a slightly higher rate of poverty (68.1%) than the Central Region (62.8%) and the Northern Region (62.5%).{{Cite report |url=https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/documents/workshops/Tanzania/malawi.pdf |title=REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON AGEING AND POVERTY: Country Position Paper - Malawi |last=Malawi Government |date=October 2003}} This is due to migration into the region, as well as the region's relatively small cropland are per capita.

At the time of the 2018 Census of Malawi, the distribution of the population of the Southern Region by ethnic group was as follows:[http://www.nsomalawi.mw/images/stories/data_on_line/demography/census_2018/2018%20Malawi%20Population%20and%20Housing%20Census%20Main%20Report.pdf 2018 Malawi Population and Housing Census Main Report]

• 39.3% Lomwe
• 24.9% Yao
• 8.3% Ngoni
• 8.2% Sena
• 6.8% Mang'anja
• 6.6% Chewa
• 3.8% Nyanja
• 0.9% Tumbuka
• 0.4% Tonga
• 0.1% Nkhonde
• 0.0% Lambya
• 0.0% Sukwa
• 0.7% Others

File:Ntaja, Machinga, Malawi.jpg, as seen in 2017]]

Cattle are quite important to the Southern Region as well as to Malawi as a whole. As of 1969, they made up about one third of the country's national slaughter, and the region had a population of about 78,998 cows.

Kwashiorkor exists in the Southern Region at a prevalence of about 1.8% as of 1995.{{Cite journal |last1=Courtright |first1=Paul |last2=Canner |first2=Joseph |date=1995-09-01 |title=The distribution of kwashiorkor in the Southern Region of Malawi |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724936.1995.11747776 |journal=Annals of Tropical Paediatrics |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=221–226 |doi=10.1080/02724936.1995.11747776 |issn=0272-4936 |pmid=8534041|url-access=subscription }} It is most common among babies aged between 1 and 1.5 years old, and often co-occurs with dysentery. Lymphatic filariasis and antigenaemia are also quite common, especially in the east.{{Cite journal |last1=Ngwira |first1=Bagrey MM |last2=Tambala |first2=Phillimon |last3=Perez |first3=A Maria |last4=Bowie |first4=Cameron |last5=Molyneux |first5=David H |date=2007 |title=The geographical distribution of lymphatic filariasis infection in Malawi |journal=Filaria Journal |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |page=12 |doi=10.1186/1475-2883-6-12 |doi-access=free |issn=1475-2883 |pmc=2233609 |pmid=18047646}}

Violence against nurses is quite common in the region, with about 70% of nurses reporting workplace violence as of 2016.{{Cite journal |last1=Banda |first1=Chimwemwe K. |last2=Mayers |first2=Pat |last3=Duma |first3=Sinegugu |date=2016-10-11 |title=Violence against nurses in the southern region of Malawi |url=https://hsag.co.za/index.php/hsag/article/view/1000 |journal=Health SA Gesondheid |language=en |volume=21 |pages=415–421 |doi=10.4102/hsag.v21i0.1000 |issn=2071-9736|doi-access=free }} Most abuse occurs in the form of verbal abuse and threatening behavior, with physical assault and sexual assault being less common. Patients make up the largest segment of perpetrators.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://visitmalawi.mw/index.php/southern-region/ Visit Malawi page]

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{{Regions and districts of Malawi}}

{{Southern Region, Malawi}}

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Category:Regions of Malawi