Public Health Institute of Malawi (Phim) says cholera cases yesterday rose to 16 following new cases confirmed in Blantyre, Mzimba North and Karonga.
Phim deputy director of surveillance and epidemiology Flora Dimba said in a written response yesterday that as of January 5 2026, Malawi had recorded 16 cholera cases with no death since confirmation of the first case on December 11 2025.
She said among the affected districts, Kasungu has the highest number at five followed by Blantyre and Neno with three each while Lilongwe, Balaka, Chitipa, Mzimba North and Karonga have registered one case each.
cholera camp in Mangochi. | Nation
Dimba said the total number of cases admitted is at four with three in Neno and one in Blantyre.
She said Phim was undertaking several interventions, including case investigation and contact tracing.
Said Dimba: “We are conducting active search of cases in affected communities and reporting of suspected diarrhoeal cases by community volunteers.
“We have deployed district rapid response teams to conduct Case Area Targeted Interventions where outbreak response and control interventions are concentrated in the areas reporting confirmed cholera cases.”
She added that Phim is also conducting risk communication and community engagement activities in all districts, sanitation and hygiene promotion and management of the cholera cases in treatment units.
Ministry of Health and Sanitation spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe said it would be early to declare the amount and sources of funds raised for the cholera outbreak response.
“The minister’s statement on funding was made only a week ago when most offices were in recess. Let me consult and revert with details,” he said.
Minister of Health and Sanitation Madalitso Baloyi said on December 28 2025 that Malawi is facing a K5 billion ($3.02 million) deficit in its cholera response budget.
The ministry’s Cholera Preparedness and Control Plan is pegged at $3.37 million (about K5.8 billion), but as of December, government had only raised $356 948 (about K625 million), leaving a funding gap of $3.02 million (about K5 billion).
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences professor of public health and epidemiology Adamson Muula said in an interview yesterday that any level of threat to assessment that could be conducted now would be inadequate and inaccurate due to floods experienced in some parts of the country.
He said the floods raise the potential for the outbreak to spread further, noting that the question is on what must be done to reach out to affected people.
Between 2022 and 2024, Malawi experienced its worst cholera outbreak, which claimed 1 772 lives out of 59 376 cases across 29 health districts.
