Although improvement of children’s nutrition in Malawi has long been a key policy issue,
child malnutrition problem in the country remains serious. This paper set out to understand
why child malnutrition in Malawi has remained persistently high over the years. The study
focuses on child stunting and underweight. Datasets from Malawi’s DHS for 1992, 2000,
2004 and 2010 were used to investigate this problem. The main finding is that stunting was
most prevalent in 2000 and 2004 but child underweight was prominent throughout the period.
The reason for this persistence is that the factors that contribute to child malnutrition did not
change significantly since 1992. Policies that can change this situation are suggested.