Cholera deaths decline in 7 days
Cholera deaths have registered a decline with 71 recorded in the past seven days compared to a trend from December and January when the country could record close to 30 deaths a day.
An update from the Ministry of Health shows that on Tuesday the country reported a total of 368 new cases and nine new deaths, on Mondaythe figure was eight, 12 on Sunday and five on Saturday.
Public health emergency specialist Adamson Muula said moving from about 30 deaths a day to about 10 deaths is a great relief.
He said the reductions in cases may mean that the prevention and treatment efforts are maturing, meaning that people have learned what to do in either case.
However, Muula was quick to caution the nation against relaxing in terms of efforts.
He said: “We have lost over 1500 people to a preventable disease which is no longer seen in high income countries. If the current trend continues, we will go out of the woods. But the fact that the present outbreak started in the dry season should tell us that things may have changed, and perhaps, forever.
“It is important that now and going forward, the lessons that need to be learned be learned quickly and permanently. Cholera will not disappear because we want it to. It will only disappear if the general and specific living standards of Malawians improve.”
Health rights activist Maziko Matemba and Malawi Health Equity Network executive director George Jobe attributed the gains to increased awareness and advocacy, the coming on board of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 and Cholera, the Tithetse Kolera M’Malawi Campaign launched by President Lazarus Chakwera a week ago, and the vigilance within health workers.
Said Jobe: “The end cholera campaign has helped to clear a lot of misinformation thereby changing people’s mindset.”
Malawi has reported 46 590 and 1 485 confirmed cholera cases and deaths respectively, since the onset of the outbreak in March 2022.
