Category: Health

By Duncan Mlanjira Malawi Blood Transfusion Service (MBTS), a non-profit organisation established by the Ministry of Health in 2003 to ensure safe and adequate supply of blood to hospitals throughout the country, fails to meet the target it is required to collect of 120,000 units of blood annually but only manages 63,000 units. However, the under-collection challenge was exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic as its voluntary donors were not forthcoming due to preventive measures of restricting movements. Most…

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By Alice Mambosasa, MANA Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), together with Ministry of Health, has embarked on strengthening system tools for cancer control to support widespread screening and treatment of precancerous lesions. The two- year program, that aims at preventing deaths due to cervical cancer, will support national scale up of thermal ablation for treatment through procurement of devices and training provision.   Speaking on Tuesday during district executive committee meeting in Blantyre, CHAI’s program associate, Chifundo Makwakwa said…

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By Chimwemwe Njoloma, MANA ‘A Clean Environment: My right, My Responsibility’, is the theme under which the National Clean-up Day — aimed at promoting both organised and individual clean up events and volunteering to keep the outdoors clean — was launched by State President Dr Lazarus Chakwera on Wednesday. Joined by the First Lady, Madame Monica Chakwera; the Vice-President, Saulos Chilima; the British High Commissioner to Malawi, David Beer and other high profile dignitaries, Chakwera participated in the ceremonial…

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By Duncan Mlanjira The Ministry of Health has lost important database that was collected since March this year after the server for the Health Management Information System (HMIS) crashed. A notice from Secretary of Health, Dr. Charles Mwansambo dated October 28, says the HMIS internet platform for the Ministry, which was operating on DHIS2 server, experienced “an incident” on October 2 and in the process of maintenance and restoration, it was discovered that the backup database was corrupted, resulting…

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By Duncan Mlanjira A citizen has voiced out some concerns on the Ministry of Health’s Facebook page over his experiences when he went for COVID-19 tests at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH). The concerned citizen observes that people are being asked to pay for the tests even when originally the fee-paying service was meant for people who are to travel outside the country. He said after having been unwell with cold symptoms and fevers for a longer period despite…

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