In Malawi, four in ten children below 15 years do not live with both their parents. The HIV/AIDS
epidemic has resulted in a large number of orphans, but there are also several other reasons why
children do not live with both or any of their parents – like migration, parental divorce, polygamy
or death due to other causes.
Governments, communities and development aid initiatives try to reach the most
vulnerable children with different forms of support. For this support to be effective, it is important
to know where the largest problems are and what they consist of.
Studies on vulnerable children in Malawi have so far concentrated mainly on the situation
for orphans, and particularly the AIDS orphans. Children living apart from one or both of their
parents for other reasons have not been subject to the same academic interest. These children are
around three times as many as the children who have lost one or both parents due to HIV/AIDS.
Some of the children with absent parents are children left behind by migrants, a
phenomenon that has drawn some attention over the last years. Whether parental migration is
good for the child or not, is a controversial question. On one hand, parents are normally assumed
to be the ones best able provide the love and care that a child needs. On the other hand,
remittances from migration can enable a household to pay for a child’s education and health care,
which is an advantage for the child. The situation for Malawian children left behind by migrants
has not, as far as I have been able to confirm, been studied before.