Urgent help
Get help now
Use this page when your problem cannot wait. It brings together the quickest routes for safety, protection, legal, health, and essential support.
Contacts checked: 18 April 2026
If the situation is urgent
- If someone is in immediate danger, use the fastest safe option available: call a hotline, go to the nearest clinic, or go to the nearest protection or police point.
- If a child may be at risk, call 116 as soon as you can.
- If the first number does not connect, try another listed contact and keep moving to the safest available help.
Call or email now
Start with the most direct contact for your situation.
Police emergency
Malawi national police emergency lines. These numbers can sometimes be unreliable — if they do not connect, go directly to the nearest police post.
24 hours
Gender-based violence, trafficking, or forced marriage
Tithandizane GBV crisis line. Free to call from Malawian mobile networks.
24 hours, Mon–Sat
Child protection
Use this if a child is being abused, exploited, neglected, or is in danger.
24 hours, Mon–Sat
Youth support and sexual health information
Confidential support for young people who need advice or referrals.
24 hours, Mon–Sat
Offices and online help
UNHCR Malawi office
For protection, documentation, or status issues that need UNHCR follow-up.
Mon–Thu 7:30–17:00, Fri 7:30–13:30
UNHCR protection email
Useful when you need to send written details or documents.
UNHCR HELP portal
Official UNHCR help site for refugees and asylum seekers. Select Malawi for country-specific guidance.
Online
Before you call or write
If it is safe to do so, prepare these details first.
- Your name and a safe phone number, if you have one.
- Your exact location or block.
- What happened and when it happened.
- Who is at risk right now.
- Whether you need language support or an interpreter.
Choose the right route
I need safety or protection help
Use this if you are dealing with violence, abuse, trafficking, threats, exploitation, or a protection concern.
Protection hotlinesReport a rights violationRights Navigator
I need legal help or I have been arrested
Use this if you need legal advice, help with refugee status issues, or support after arrest or detention.
I need medical help
Use this if you are sick, injured, pregnant, need treatment, or need urgent health support.
I need mental health or emotional support
Use this if you feel overwhelmed, hopeless, distressed, or need a calmer starting point for trauma, counseling, or community-based wellbeing support.
I need food, shelter, or basic support
Use this if your need is urgent but not only legal or medical, and you need help reaching the right support route.
Not sure which page to use?
If your situation is urgent but you are not sure where it fits, start with support and ask to be routed to the right team.
Where these contacts came from
Checked on 18 April 2026. Hotline and office details on this page came from the sources below.
- YONECO (Youth Net and Counselling)Hotline numbers 5600, 116, and 393 are listed site-wide. The former /information/ page has been removed.
- UNHCR Malawi office pageChecked 18 April 2026 for the Malawi office phone number, email, and working hours.
- Malawi police emergency numbersPolice numbers 990 and 997 confirmed via UK FCDO travel advice for Malawi.
- UNHCR HELP portal for refugeesOfficial UNHCR self-service portal for asylum procedures, legal support, and services.