The European Union (EU) has released 1.5 million euro (about K1.7 billion) emergency humanitarian funding to support Malawi in its efforts to address the ongoing cholera outbreak in the country.

Commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarčič said cholera remains a tragic reality for many countries with unsafe and contaminated water sources and poor hygiene practices.

She said: “Inadequate infection prevention and control practices by communities and poor knowledge of cholera by health staff also increase the risk of the outbreak spreading.

A cholera treatment centre

“The EU funding of 1.5 million euro will support World Health Organisation in procuring essential supplies to strengthen its rapid response capabilities, carry out district-level forecasting for supplies and develop a multi-partner information-sharing system for the best use of resources.”

Lenarčič said the EU has also increased by 500 000 euro (about K568 million) its contribution to an ongoing Unicef project providing life-saving health and water and sanitation services to cholera-affected communities to improve case management and reduce deaths.

In November last year, the EU supported the fight against the outbreak in Malawi, with £540 000 (about K582 million) funding.

This came barely three months after it committed 100 000 euro (about K113 million) in September 2022 to help in the fight.

The September funding, which was part of the EU’s overall contribution to the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), was designed to reach over 753 000 people.

The funding supported the Malawi Red Cross Society in delivering assistance to prevent and control the spread of the outbreak in the three high-risk districts of Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Karonga as well as Mzuzu City in a four-month project.

On Monday, the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 and Cholera said the country was running short of medical supplies to assist cholera patients admitted in various hospitals .

The post EU allocates K1.7bn funding for cholera first appeared on The Nation Online.