Ministry to probe cholera spike

Ministry of Health has announced plans to conduct a study to establish the cause of the rise in cholera cases during the dry season in the country.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe said in an interview on Monday that while it is normal to have a cholera outbreak during the dry season as long as there are poor sanitary conditions, the steady rise in cases was making the situation “beyond normal”.

“We will conduct a study to find out if there is anything triggering such a rise in cases despite the fact that it’s the dry season,” he said.

The country first registered a cholera case in March this year at Machinga District Hospital. The case was from Balaka District. During the same month, Nsanje District registered some cases.

Thereafter, cholera spread to six more districts in the Southern Region between April and August, Nkhata Bay in the Northern Region and Nkhotakota in the Central Region also registered cases.

As of Sunday, Malawi had cumulatively registered 3 314 cases, including 99 deaths, making this year the worst since 2001/02 when the country registered 33 546 cases and 968 deaths.

The statistics show that Nkhata Bay has registered 677 cases and 17 deaths while Blantyre has recorded 571 cases and 23 deaths. Rumphi is the third worst hit with 424 cases and 10 deaths followed by Nkhotakota with 351 cases and 11 deaths and Mzimba North, which mostly covers Mzuzu City and surrounding areas, with 327 cases and one death.

According to a Ministry of Health cholera update issued on Sunday, the disease is now killing three to four people in every 100 cases.

World Health Organisation states that the fatality rate is not supposed to be more than 1 per every 100 people.

However, this year’s cholera outbreak during the dry season has surprised the ministry, calling it “beyond the norm”.

Chikumbe said there is now need for collaboration among different stakeholders, especially councils.

Malawi Environmental Health Association has since tipped authorities to maximise efforts in fighting cholera as the rainy season approaches.

Meanwhile, Karonga, Rumphi, Nkhata Bay and Chikwawa district councils issued bans on cooked food and eating at mass gatherings.

Nkhata Bay district commissioner Peter Jimusole said other efforts put in place to contain the outbreak include proper use of pit latrines, drinking safe and treated clean water and observing good hygiene.

During her tour of health facilities in Blantyre, Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Mia last week expressed concern over the rising cases of the disease.

She said the ministry understands that the reason behind the spread of the outbreak is lack of access to clean water.

In April this year, Ministry of Health conducted a cholera vaccination campaign in eight districts of the Southern Region to contain the outbreak. The ministry also distributed chlorine to fight cholera.

The first cholera case in the country was detected in Nsanje in 1973.