By Roselyn Phiri
Lilongwe, August 16, Mana: The Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda has said Cholera and COVID-19 cases and deaths have gone down from level three to level one in the past three months.
Speaking on Wednesday during a media briefing on the update of Cholera and COVID-19 in Lilongwe, Minister of health and Co-Chair of the presidential Task force on Cholera and COVID-19, said the number of cases and deaths have gone down to low levels.
“The numbers have really gone down and this means Cholera outbreak is no longer a public health emergency in Malawi. However, there are still cases being registered in three districts namely Chikwawa, Mangochi and Zomba but are low in number,” said Chiponda
The Minister said although the cholera situation has been controlled, people should not be complacent saying there a lot of work to do especially in the remaining three districts where the cases of Cholera are still being reported.
“These districts have challenges with their sources of drinking water because they were heavily contaminated during the cyclone Freddy, while some communities still use water from rivers which is not safe,” she explained.
She further explained that government in collaboration with partners will continue to intensify cholera control intervention in these districts saying the country has secured 1.416 million doses of oral cholera vaccine this year.
She said the Ministry of health will launch second round of Tithetse Cholera campaign dubbed ‘Tithetse Cholera 2.0’ after a successful completion of the first round.
The Minister has since urged people in the country to adopt and practice cholera preventive and control measures as a matter of daily norm so that country should now report to zero cholera cases.
World Health Organization (WHO) Country officer, Ishmael Nyasulu commended government of Malawi for the gallant fight in containing both the cholera and COVID-19 situations and has urged partners to continue supporting Malawi.
Malawi has been battling a cholera outbreak since February 2022.
The outbreak was declared a national public health emergency by the state President on 5th December 2022 as of 14th August 2023 a total of 58,982 cholera cases including 1,768 deaths have been reported.
