{"id":77239,"date":"2026-04-06T19:18:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers"},"modified":"2026-04-06T19:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:38:21","slug":"health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers","title":{"rendered":"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Malawi. <\/strong><\/span><b>Health authorities in Lilongwe have issued a strong call to the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) to sustain and scale up its support to Mother Care Groups (MCGs), warning that the community structures remain critical in safeguarding child health and boosting immunisation coverage.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Officials from the Lilongwe District Health Office (DHO) say the gains registered in vaccination programmes risk stalling if support to the grassroots groups weakens.<\/p>\n<p>Lilongwe District Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Coordinator Maclean Nkhoma made the remarks during the distribution of bicycles to MCGs\u2014an intervention aimed at strengthening outreach and mobility in hard-to-reach areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe MCGs assist with defaulter tracing in immunisation programmes. Immunisation is crucial in preventing diseases that can harm children and even adults. These groups track children who miss vaccines and educate mothers on the importance of immunisation,\u201d said Nkhoma.<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that the role of MCGs goes beyond simple mobilisation, describing them as a frontline defence in public health. Their efforts, he noted, have directly contributed to Lilongwe District reaching the World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended 90 percent immunisation coverage\u2014an achievement that underscores their impact.<\/p>\n<p>MHEN Assistant Project Officer Tumpale Kalobo reaffirmed the organisation\u2019s commitment, acknowledging that the initiative is yielding tangible results in communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are impressed with the work being done by MCGs in promoting vaccination among under-five children. Some groups have even gone further to advocate for the construction of under-five clinics to improve access to immunisation services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The bicycles, being distributed with support from the Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, are expected to enhance the reach and efficiency of the groups, enabling volunteers to cover wider areas and respond faster to cases of missed vaccinations.<\/p>\n<p>As Malawi continues to battle preventable childhood diseases, health authorities insist that sustained investment in community-based structures like MCGs is not optional\u2014but essential.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Malawi<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Malawi. Health authorities in Lilongwe have issued a strong call to the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) to sustain and scale up its support to Mother Care Groups (MCGs), warning that the community structures remain critical in safeguarding child health and boosting immunisation coverage. Officials from the Lilongwe District Health Office (DHO) say [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":77238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-77239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Health authorities in Lilongwe have issued a strong call to the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) to sustain and sc ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Health authorities in Lilongwe have issued a strong call to the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) to sustain and sc ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T19:18:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T19:38:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1124\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-06T19:18:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-06T19:38:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers\"},\"wordCount\":324,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers\",\"name\":\"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers - Malawi\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-06T19:18:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-06T19:38:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Health authorities in Lilongwe have issued a strong call to the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) to sustain and sc ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg\",\"width\":1124,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/\",\"name\":\"Malawi\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers - Malawi","description":"Health authorities in Lilongwe have issued a strong call to the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) to sustain and sc ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers","og_description":"Health authorities in Lilongwe have issued a strong call to the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) to sustain and sc ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers","og_site_name":"Malawi","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-04-06T19:18:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-06T19:38:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1124,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers","datePublished":"2026-04-06T19:18:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-06T19:38:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers"},"wordCount":324,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg","keywords":["Malawi"],"articleSection":["all news","community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers","name":"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers - Malawi","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-06T19:18:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-06T19:38:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Health authorities in Lilongwe have issued a strong call to the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) to sustain and sc ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2026\/04\/sm_1775503830.913804.jpg","width":1124,"height":750,"caption":"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/health-officials-urge-mhen-to-maintain-support-for-mothers#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Health Officials Urge MHEN to Maintain Support for Mothers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/","name":"Malawi","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77247,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77239\/revisions\/77247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}