Mary Shawa
Mary Shawa is a Malawian former public official. From 2004 through 2012, she was the Principal Secretary for Nutrition, HIV and AIDS in the Ministry of Health and Population, and then she was the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disabilities and Social Welfare before her retirement from civil service in 2018.
Education
Shawa has a master's degree in clinical nutrition dietetics, a diploma in agriculture, a PhD in nutrition and socioeconomic development, and a postgraduate diploma in community development and resources.[1][2]
Career
In November 2004, Shawa became the Principal Secretary for Nutrition, HIV and AIDS in the Ministry of Health and Population in Malawi.[2] In 2005, she participated in a public debate about planned changes to the law to criminalize the deliberate spread of HIV.[3] In 2008, she announced the government decision to replace financial support with food for Malawian civil servants with HIV.[4] In July 2010, she participated in a public health campaign with other political leaders.[5]
In April 2012, after Joyce Banda became president of Malawi, Shawa was appointed as the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disabilities and Social Welfare.[6][7] In 2014, she shared her perspective on the causes of domestic violence with Voice of America, "The most common violence with the women perpetrate against men is denying their conjugal rights. It is the highly reported violence and that particular violence is what results in women being battered being hacked and so forth."[8] In 2016, she pushed for increased focus on childhood nutrition.[9] During her tenure, she was also responsible for the health and safety of people with albinism.[10][11] Despite evidence of a market for body parts motivating the murder of Malawians with albinism, Shawa said ministry research showed no market existed, and that people attempting to find a market would instead find undercover police officers.[10][11][12]
After retiring from the civil service June 19 2018,[13] she remained the honorary president of Chifundo & Chinasa charity.[1]
Shawa called on Malawians to vote for a "God-fearing" candidate in the 2019 Malawian general election.[13]
In 2021 she was working as a senior public health specialist at Plan International Malawi.[14]
Selected publications
- Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and the health-related Millennium Development Goals: time for a public health approach, The Lancet, July 16, 2011, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62303-3 (co author with 17 others)
- Prevalence of Sexual Violence Against Children and Use of Social Services — Seven Countries, 2007–2013, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2015 Jun 5 (co-author with 18 others)
References
- ^ a b "Dr Mary Shawa | Chanasa Chifundo Malawi". chanasachifundomalawi.org. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
- ^ a b "A Day in the Life of Mary Shawa - Sight and Life sight_life_admin". Sight and Life. 2010-02-24. doi:10.52439/MWST8493. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
- ^ Gondwe, Gregory (January 31, 2005). "Malawi: The Deliberate Spread of HIV to Be Criminalised". The Chronicle (Lilongwe). AllAfrica. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
- ^ "Malawi drops HIV cash hand-outs". BBC News. 13 October 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ Karan, Abraar; Hartford, Emily; Coates, Thomas J. (2017). "The potential for political leadership in HIV/AIDS communication campaigns in Sub-Saharan Africa". Global Health Action. 10 (1): 2. doi:10.1080/16549716.2017.1270525. PMC 5328337. PMID 28156196.
- ^ "Mary Shawa deployed to Ministry of Gender | Malawi news, Malawi - NyasaTimes breaking online news source from Malawi". Nyasatimes.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-13. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
- ^ Smith, Alex Duval (20 September 2012). "Malawi shifts focus to nutrition and new crops to tackle food crisis". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
- ^ Masina, Lameck (August 15, 2014). "Stiffer Penalties Fail to Deter Domestic Violence in Malawi". Voice of America. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ Babu, S. C. (2016). Micronutrient policy process in Malawi. United States: Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University. p16
- ^ a b "Murder for profit". The Economist. June 11, 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ a b "Killed for their bones". Al Jazeera. 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ "No market for albino body parts, Malawi govt study concludes". Nyasa Times. June 16, 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ a b Faith Kadzanja (8 May 2019). "Ex-PS speaks on polls". The Daily Times (Malawi).
- ^ Madalitso Wills Kateta (1 December 2021). "Are myths about infertility fueling vaccine hesitancy in Malawi?". Devex.