As Malawi responds to the recent outbreak of cholera, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) has confirmed the approval of 3.9 million oral cholera vaccines for the country.
The country’s Ministry of Health, which declared a cholera outbreak in March 2022, has so far recorded over 65 cases and three deaths across two districts in Malawi’s southern region.
An acute diarrheal infection that can cause vomiting, leg cramps, dehydration and shock, cholera is caused by consuming contaminated food and water.
The latest outbreak of cholera in Malawi is an impact of the tropical cyclone Ana that hit the country in January 2022.
According to local authorities, 19 districts across the country’s southern and central regions were affected as homes, toilets and safe water sources were destroyed.
Health assessment reports suggest that displaced persons now live in inadequate spaces, with insufficient access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.
‘With technical support from WHO, the country is implementing a multisectoral approach integrating strengthened surveillance, vaccination, community mobilisation and water, sanitation and hygiene to prevent and control cholera in hotspots districts’, the Director of Preventive Health Services in the Ministry of Health, Dr Storn Kabuluzi, said.
Malawi, according to WHO, has received 1.9 million doses of Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) from the Global Emergency Stockpile to begin the first round of oral cholera vaccination campaigns.
‘Cholera remains a neglected disease despite many developing countries in the world facing cholera outbreaks or the threat of a cholera epidemic’, WHO’s Acting Representative in Malawi, Dr Janet Kayita, said.
‘Every death from cholera is preventable with the tools we have today. Therefore, WHO commits to provide support to the Ministry of Health to implement immediate, long-term cholera control, including surveillance, outbreak response and preventive measures’.
It is understood that cholera contributes substantially to the disease burden in Malawi and is endemic with cases confirmed almost every year since the first cholera case in the country was detected in Nsanje district in 1973.
Source: WHO
Photo source: UNPD
