The risk of intimate partner violence is consistently higher among women living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa than among those living without it — even for pregnant women, who are often first informed of their status during prenatal screenings.

While abuse and discrimination against women and persons with disabilities is punishable by law in Malawi, in a patriarchal culture with a pronounced belief in the existence of witchcraft, men are at liberty to abandon their families on the basis of disability alone.

Gender inequality and stringent cultural beliefs left women most vulnerable to the HIV epidemic. With the coronavirus, Malawi mustn't repeat the same mistakes.