The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Malawi Momentum Tikweze Umoyo Project has provided medical supplies to five district health offices of Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhotakota, Kasungu and Salima.

The supplies are part of the support that the project is providing to the districts to help in coordinating and managing cholera response activities.

The project, it is understood, is a $28 million five-year intervention aimed at reducing maternal, newborn, and child morbidity and mortality in Malawi.

The project’s Chief of Party, Marriam Mangochi, said this is part of the efforts by the project to assist the government of Malawi in managing the cholera outbreak which was declared a national emergency in December 2022.

‘Some of the materials we are donating today include chlorine, cannulas, personal protection equipment (PPEs), and Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), among others, and these have already been dispatched to the other districts’, Nyasa Times quoted Mangochi as saying.

Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that cholera has affected 27 of 29 districts in Malawi since March 2022, and it represents the largest outbreak reported in the country in the past ten years.

Mangochi said the project is also supporting the districts with surveillance and reporting of cholera cases at the community level as well as distribution of public health guidance so that communities have the right information and know how they can prevent the further spread of the disease.

Salima District Environmental Health Officer, Reuben Chikadza, said the support from the project will go a long way in containing and managing the disease in the district.

Photo source: UNICEF