Cholera cases down by 13.8 percent

Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo-Chiponda has said the cholera outbreak cases have reduced by 13.8 percent.

Speaking during a press engagement at the Central Office of Information in Lilongwe on Friday, the minister, who is also co-chairperson of Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 and Cholera, said while in Week Six the country registered 3 786 cases, the figure reduced to 3 263 cases in Week Seven.

She attributed the reduction to the Tithetse Cholera Campaign which President Lazarus Chakwera launched on February 13  this year.

Said Kandodo-Chiponda: “Since the discovery of cholera in 2022, 47 526 cases have been recorded while 1 511 deaths have been recorded.

“The progress being registered since the launch of the campaign is giving hope that Malawi will soon be free from the pandemic.”

She said Unicef has provided $2 million (about K2 053 204 606) to boost the activities in the campaign through recruitment of more health surveillance assistants (HSAs).

 “The central part of this campaign is awareness and we are relying on HSAs for this task. We are planning to recruit more HSAs with support from Unicef and we will win this battle,” said Kandodo-Chiponda.

The minister blamed the outbreak on some religious beliefs which bar people from accessing health care services and cultural behaviours which deviate from hygiene practices.

Unicef country representative Rudolf Schwenk said his organisation is committed to supporting Malawi in the fight against pandemics such as cholera.

World Health Organisation representative Nima Kimambo said the organisation is working tirelessly providing technical and other support to the Ministry of Health.

“Our target is that there should be zero cholera-related deaths and this begins with the reduction in reported cases. We are working with government to eradicate cholera,” she said.

Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Mia said the ministry has chlorinated shallow wells in urban and peri-urban areas, especially where high cholera cases were reported.

Malawi has reported over 46 500 and 1 485 confirmed cholera cases and deaths respectively, since the onset of the outbreak in March 2022.