‘Don’t rely on free face masks’
Chikwembere Ward councillor in Blantyre North Constituency Mathews Jirani has warned community members not to rely on free face masks to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said this on Saturday during a meeting to discuss Covid-19 prevention organised by Blantyre District Health Office (DHO).
Jirani said people in the area were asking him for free face masks.
“When I advised people to wear face masks at a funeral, they came to my house, saying as a councillor, I should give them the face masks,” he said.
Jirani asked people to be creative and make their own face masks to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
On her part, Blantyre DHO promotion officer Chrissy Banda urged area development committee (ADC) members not to relent in spreading Covid-19 preventive messages to community members.
“It is high time people became self-reliant other than waiting to be given basic personal protective equipment such as face masks,” she said.
The DHO has so far engaged five ADCs from traditional authorities Machinjiri, Kapeni, Chigalu and Somba on Covid-19 messages.
The meeting was funded by Malawi Health Equity Network (Mehn). The organisation is also supporting similar activities in Ntcheu, Dedza, Mzuzu, Mchinji and Lilongwe DHOs with funding from Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.
