By Richard Kagunda

Kasungu, August 26, Mana: Kasungu District Council health authorities, have appealed to religious leaders to take the lead in disseminating information about health emergencies, including the newly declared MPox viral disease.

The Kasungu health promotion committee has been engaging stakeholders in the district, including members of the clergy to raise awareness on various public health emergencies such as measles, Covid 19, cholera and recently MPox disease.

Speaking in an interview, the Health Promotion Officer for Kasungu District Health Office (DHO), Catherine Yoweli, said religious leaders are key stakeholders in health promotion.

“We targeted them, considering that they command respect and that they have a large following. That alone is an important aspect, which we need to ride on to take messages to people.

“The other issue is that; challenges we face in dealing with these health emergencies borders much on beliefs. Therefore, if we empower the religious leaders with correct information, we believe we will be able to deal with these challenges,” Yoweli said.

Kasungu registered five cases of measles between April and June this year, and the district has been on high alert over the threat of Marburg viral disease which was reported in Tanzania last year and cholera which devastated neighbouring Zambian districts.

Yoweli underscored the importance of preparation, saying despite the district not registering any MPox cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared it a public health emergency.

On his part, Sheikh Hamdan Umari said religious leaders have a big role to play in raising awareness of health issues.

“We have a responsibility, to take part in promoting the health status of our people,” Umari said.

Sheikh Umari, further condemned religious leaders who prohibit their followers from getting immunization, saying physical health and spirituality must go hand in hand.

Malawi has had health emergencies such as Covid-19 and Cholera and now faces the threat of MPox, an infectious disease caused by the monkey pox virus.

So far, Malawi has not recorded any MPox cases, but 13 other African countries have reported the disease, with the Democratic Republic of Congo being the most affected.