By Patience Lunda:
The Ministry of Health, through the Public Health Institute of Malawi, has declared the end of the cholera outbreak in the country, having recorded no new cholera case in the past four weeks.
Secretary for Health Samson Mndolo indicates, through a statement, that the development means all transmission chains of the disease have been interrupted.
According to the ministry, the declaration is in line with the public health surveillance guidance for cholera by the Global Taskforce on Cholera Control (GTFCC) and the World Health Organisation alert and response systems for public health threats.
The ministry says it would continue being vigilant and support multi-sectoral cholera prevention and control interventions to ensure that any upsurge of diarrheal diseases is timely identified and controlled.
“Despite the reduced number of cholera cases, the country still registered sporadic cases from high-risk districts. For example, a total of 286 cases, including three deaths, were reported from 15 districts from November 1 2023 to June 5 2024 and, in response, the country continued implementing intensive surveillance and control measures at both the community and facility levels in all the affected districts to completely halt the outbreak,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, Malawi Health Equity Network Executive Director George Jobe has emphasised the need for continued sensitisation and dialogue on cholera prevention as the rainy season approaches.
“Going forward, there should be more sensitisation because the cases can resurface during the rainy season and the health cluster committee should also strategise on how to prevent the re-occurrence of the outbreak,” he said.
Earlier, epidemiologist Adamson Muula noted that many sanitation and hygiene-related illnesses in the country result from a lack of proper sanitary facilities and the failure of citizens to take heed of precautionary measures
President Lazarus Chakwera declared a National Public Health Emergency on December 5 2022, which led to the implementation of preventive and control interventions such as Tithetse and Tipewe Cholera campaigns.
On August 5 2023, cholera was declared no longer a National Public Health Emergency.
Since March last year, Malawi has registered a total of 59,376 cases of cholera.
0 Comments