The Ministry of Health (MoH) says it is assessing reports of a scabies outbreak in some camps in Machinga district and has employed strategies to prevent the outbreak from spreading to other districts.

Director of Preventive Health Services in the Ministry of Health Dr Storn Kabuluzi has meanwhile encouraged communities to practice personal hygiene and seek immediate treatment for any suspected case.

“Machinga DHO is implementing the same strategies we are implementing at national level. It’s an issue of personal hygiene, basically if one member of the family has been diagnosed with scabies, we recommend treatment for all members but because camps are overcrowded, we are treating everyone sharing a room with a suspected case including close contacts,” he said.

Machinga DHO spokesperson Clifton Ngozo said the first four cases were reported at Nyenje camp located some seven kilometers from Ntaja Trading centre. The camp has 103 survivors.

“We are still assessing the situation but the cases have spread to other camps. The situation has been with us but having more people staying at one place has exacerbated the problem,” said Ngozo.

He attributed the spread in cases to poor hygiene practices.

“Proper hygiene practices are key in preventing scabies. We have been encouraging people to always wash their clothes with soup and dry them up in the sun, it’s unfortunate that most of the people are ignoring this,” he said.

There are 66 camps in Machinga and the office of the DHO is having mobile clinics to provide medical services to the displaced people.

Health activist Maziko Matemba and Malawi Health Equity Network (Mhen) executive director George Jobe expressed sadness that the country is grappling with a number of outbreaks which include cholera, polio as well as scabies, all connected to hygiene.

Said Matemba: “These outbreaks are coming because of the inability of the members of the community to appreciate issues of hygiene as a primary cornerstone of good health. When people are failing to practice hygiene at a basic level then it becomes a problem.”

Jobe called for more investments in the health sector to bring more awareness on hygiene and behavior change as well as capacitate healthcare workers.

He said: “When we look at diseases such as Covid-19, cholera, typhoid fever, scabies all these mean that we need a lot of awareness in communities and more investment in water, sanitation and hygiene.”

According to the Ministry of Health, scabies symptoms may begin 3 – 6 weeks after first infestation, but as early as one day after re-infestation.

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