Government says battle against cholera being won

The Ministry of Health (MoH) says the fight against the cholera outbreak which was confirmed in the country on Boxing Day last year is being won as since mid-January to Tuesday this week, no new case has been reported in the five affected districts.

According to the ministry, a report on cholera it has compiled indicates that, as of Wednesday, the total national number of cholera patients in treatment camps is 11 (Zomba has three), Phalombe-six and Karonga – two against a total number of 722 patients since the onset of the outbreak.

Director of preventive health services in the ministry Storn Kabuluzi said on Wednesday the development is an indication that things are working and people are doing what they are supposed to do, that is, taking patients to treatment centres on time to allow caretakers to provide treatment to suspected cases.

“In general, we can say that the measures are working out okay. As you know, these are scientifically proven measures for controlling cholera not only by Malawi but even the WHO [World Health Organisation] and all what we need to do is to put them in place and implement them as a team and we will see results on the ground,” said Kabuluzi.

Cholera is a predictable and preventable disease transmitted through poor sanitation and hygiene as well as poor preparedness.

For many decades, Malawi has been struggling with cholera—both in its prevention as well as treatment. The country registered the highest cholera cases in 2008/2009 when 3 250 cases and 82 deaths were recorded. Since then the trend has been declining.