Centre for Development Communications has said the coming of Cyclone Freddy has affected its effort to fight Covid-19 in Mulanje District. The organisation’s executive director Fred Yiwombe said this in Mulanje on Wednesday during the training of journalists on Covid-19 where he explained what his organisation is doing to fight the epidemic in the district.

He said their job involves moving from village to village sensitizing people about the epidemic and what they should do to prevent themselves. Said Yiwombe: “However, the people are not in their villages, but in camps displaced by Cyclone Freddy. It is difficult for us to face people who are traumatised and are mourning after losing their loved ones.

Yiwombe: There is no social distance in camps pic: Edwin Nyirongo

“As a result, we will have to go back to the drawing board and see how we can continue assisting the people so that they do not succumb to the disease.”

The executive director was particularly saddened that the people that are in camps are severely threatened by Covid-19 as there is no social distance.

Yiwombe said when his organisation started working on Covid-19 in Mulanje, the vaccine uptake was at five percent, but it is now at 12 percent which he described as positive trend.
Mulanje District Health Office public relations officer Chipiliro Mjojo said the target is to reach 70 percent vaccination rate by June this year which he described as not easy with the current 12 percent.
“Politics affected the exercise in this area. Politicians were saying that there was no Covid-19 in the country and many people have stuck to that. But with collective effort, we will move forward,” he said.

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