The Malawi Association of Medical Laboratory Sciences (MAMLS) has issued an urgent warning, calling for massive government investment in medical laboratories to combat the emergence of Antimicrobial-Resistant (AMR) gonorrhoea.
This alarm follows a Nation on Sunday report confirming the detection of drug-resistant gonorrhoea in the country.
A statement signed by MAMLS chairperson Confidence Banda said the revelation calls for an urgent alarm and the need for immediate intervention.
“Currently, the standard approach to treating gonorrhoea in many settings is syndromic management, treating based on symptoms without laboratory confirmation. While this has been a pragmatic approach, it is now proving dangerously inadequate in the era of AMR.
Without robust laboratory testing, we are essentially flying blind,” said Banda.
He further called on government to recruit more medical laboratory scientists, specialists and technicians skilled in microbiological techniques and AMR surveillance, adding that a machine without a skilled operator is useless.
“Ensure that the findings from laboratory surveillance directly and rapidly inform the national treatment guidelines, ensuring they are always based on local resistance patterns. Invest in research and development of RDTs that can detect resistance markers, allowing for faster, point-of-care guidance on appropriate antibiotic use,” added Banda.
Responding to the calls, Secretary for Health Dr. Dan Namalika in an interview yesterday said the ministry is conducting surveillance on organisms that cause gonorrhoea.
Namalika said the ministry is collecting samples from across the country and sending them to Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Kuhes) in Blantyre and the Community Health Sciences Unit (CHISU) laboratories in Lilongwe.
He added that the ministry is expecting the results which will be shared to the public and will inform how the government responds to the problem.
“What we are seeing that is promoting this problem is what we call poverty counter medication. People walk to the counter and purchase medicine without a proper prescription which is a dangerous thing to do. We need to control that too, because our efforts to beat these diseases might not yield anything if we do not control the unwarranted use of antibiotics” said Namalika.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is working with the Pharmacy and Medicines Regulatory Authority (PMRA) to identify proper medication that can be used to treat gonorrhoea.
A report by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) released in July this year said there is a rising spread of drug resistance across 14 African countries urging governments to strengthen laboratory testing, data systems and national health planning to combat hard to treat infections.
The report found that resistance to third-generation cephalosporins, a powerful group of antibiotics, was particularly high in Ghana and Malawi.
National data from the Ministry of Health show a consistent increase in STI cases over recent years, with 546 543 cases in 2024, up from 501 038 in 2023, 445 348 in 2022, and 385 699 in 2021.
