Chakwera being appraised of intervention being practised by school learners
* Tuesday recorded 13 deaths in Lilongwe (4); two each in Machinga and Mulanje
* And one each in Blantyre, Thyolo, Mangochi, Ntcheu and Mchinji
* Tithetse Cholera M’Malawi campaign is aimed at getting a quick reversal of the outbreak
* And the rising trend of new cases by delivering a package of integrated interventions at community level
By Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express & Tiyanjane Mambucha, MANA
On Valentine’s Day, the rampaging cholera outbreak claimed 13 deaths, bringing the total of mortality at 1,412 since the first case that was detected in Machinga in March last year.
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A total of 475 new cases were reported on Tuesday and the 13 deaths were recorded in Lilongwe (4); two each in Machinga and Mulanje; and one each in Blantyre, Thyolo, Mangochi, Ntcheu and Mchinji.
The situation report from the Presidential Taskforce on CoVID-19 and Cholera indicates that a total of 41,221 people have so far recovered from the cumulative confirmed cases is 43,434.
Mangochi still leads in most cases recorded at 7,694 with 122 deaths, followed by Lilongwe (7,454/428); Blantyre (6,261/188); Balaka (3,181/85); Salima (2,994/81); Machinga (1,888/76); Nkhata Bay (1,516/44); Dedza (1,438/55); Nkhotakota (1,335/55); Dowa (1,112/33); Chiradzulu (1,068/37) and Rumphi (1,047/17).
In three digits are Karonga (944/25); Ntcheu (942/27); Thyolo (953/23); Mulanje (676/29) and Mzimba North (472/2).
The stressing situation has prompted President Lazarus Chakwera launched Tithetse Cholera M’Malawi campaign on Monday — aimed at getting a quick reversal of the outbreak and the rising trend of new cases by delivering a package of integrated interventions at community level.
In her Tuesday cholera situation report, Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said: “The goal of the campaign is to contribute to the reduction of cholera incidence and mortality through early detection and prompt response at community level.”
Thus she appealed to everyone to take part in the fight while appealing to the public to change their behaviour and strictly adhere to the preventive, control and containment measures.
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Meanwhile, at the launch of the campaign, President Chakwera apologised to all health workers in the country over the recent work place violence in health care settings.
Speaking when he toured Area 25 health facility, Chakwera said he understands the fear that has gripped health workers in the country because of the recent attacks by community members in Balaka and Lilongwe respectively.
“I commend health workers for their resilience to serve communities despite numerous challenges,” he said. “No one would be comfortable to work in a threatened work place environment but because they took an oath they still work to serve communities.
“I am apologising, on behalf of Malawians, for the attacks and I seriously condemn the acts,” he said.
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The ‘Tithetse Cholera’ campaign was launched at Mgona just after a few days when its community residents attacked health workers and vandalised the Area 25 health facillity.
The President, who earlier said the cholera outbreak has come with vengeance, said the campaign will see many activities being implemented aimed at eradicating the outbreak — emphasizing that government has been doing a lot and stakeholders have stepped in to contain the spread of the disease but still cases are rising.
“It is because people’s behaviour are not changing that is making the situation dire. This campaign, wants to make sure that everyone across the country gets the message on how to prevent and contain this killer disease,” he said.
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United Nations representative, Rabecca Adah Donto commended efforts being done so far by different stakeholders through their generous contributions towards ending the outbreak.
She added that despite all the efforts, the situation remains a great concern — hence the need for rapid response to help reduce the cases.
“This campaign is more critical and we should aim to reach far communities and encourage people to seek health care on time. There is a huge corrective task ahead of us, therefore, we should not do business as usual,” said Donto.
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