Malawi battles fresh cholera outbreak

Blantyre, Malawi — Malawi is recording new cases of cholera two months after it declared the end of the country's worst cholera outbreak, which began in March 2022 and killed nearly 2,000 people.

New cases have been reported in Chitipa district in northern Malawi and Machinga district in the south. Records from Chitipa District Health Office, released Friday, show the district has recorded 22 cases of cholera, with one death, since the onset of the new outbreak last week. That includes nine new cases registered Friday, with eight people hospitalized. Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated. Machinga district hospital in southern Malawi registered its first cholera case in the new outbreak this week. “It has been three days now since we registered that case,” said Wongani Nyirenda, the hospital’s spokesperson. “However, we are doing everything to make sure that people are using safe water. We have given them some chlorine and a water guard to treat their water.” He said health surveillance assistants are also on the ground educating people about good hygiene practices. The resurgence of cholera cases comes two months after Malawi declared the end of the country's worst cholera outbreak, which began in March 2022 and killed nearly 2,000 people.

Government authorities told VOA in July that they had stopped the outbreak by increasing access to safe water and administering an oral cholera vaccination campaign that began in December 2022. George Jobe, executive director of the Malawi Health Equity Network, is concerned about the resurgence. “It is worrisome,” he said. “Our hope and expectation was that we would have a breather. A longer breather, especially considering that in 2022 we had a big suffering from cholera which took us over a year. So, we wouldn’t want to go back to such a bad experience.” Jobe believes the resurgence means Malawi is still struggling to address the challenges of making safe water available. He said water contaminated by sewage is the main cause of cholera. “We have issues to do with behavioral change where hygiene issues should be borne in mind, like washing hands with soap, having pit latrines and good waste management,” he said. The co-chairperson for the presidential task force on COVID-19 and cholera in Malawi, Dr.

Wilfred Chalamira Nkhoma, did not respond to calls and texts from VOA seeking comment on the new outbreak. However, Ministry of Health officials told local media this week that Malawians should not panic, saying the government is putting measures in place to control the spread of the disease..