Kasungu DHO decries rise in cholera cases

Kasungu district environmental health officer Rudolf Zinkanda has bemoaned the rise in cholera cases in the district despite the country registering a decline in the number of  cases.

For the past three weeks, cholera cases nationally have declined, with Sunday registering the lowest at 89 and zero deaths. The country registered a spike in cases and deaths between December 2022 and February 2023.

As of Monday, the country had registered 56 763 cases and 1 722 deaths while Kasungu has cumulatively registered 81 cases and six deaths.

Zinkanda said Kasungu has registered the highest number of cases in March since the district recorded its first case in September last year.

He said: “It is worrisome that nationally, cases are going down, but in Kasungu the story is different. We are recording more cases than before. We need to be vigilant and plan for interventions to put the cases in check because we registered40 cholera cases in March against a monthly average of 6.6 cases in the past six months.”

Zinkanda said traditional authorities Kaomba, Kaluluma, Suza and Mwase are hotspots.

“So far we have been on the ground with various interventions such as administering oral vaccine. We also receive support from partners such as Unicef, Plan Malawi, Good Neighbours and others,” he said.

A resident Chiyanjano Tembo called on authorities to formulate by-laws in hotspots restricting sale of ready to eat food.

“At the rate the cases are spreading, we need to do something quickly. We do not want cases to escalate when national figures show a decline,” he said.

Kasungu is generally a dry town with erratic water supply while rural areas rely on boreholes.

President Lazarus Chakwera declared cholera a public health emergency on December 5 last year and in January this year launched a national campaign to end the outbreak.