Thirteen people have died from cholera on Christmas Day as the case surge continues in the country, Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said in a statement released yesterday.

She  said the six deaths were reported in Lilongwe, five in Blantyre and one each in Mangochi and Dowa.

She said the country recorded 235 new cases with Blantyre registering the highest with 59 cases followed by Lilongwe and Salima with 40 cases each, Mangochi 37 and Dowa 27 cases.

Reads the statement in part: “It is sad to note that some cholera patients are not seeking care early due to religious beliefs, and this is making the disease to spread further resulting in unnecessary loss life in the process.

“Let me appeal to the faith community to encourage their members that if anyone in the community has signs and symptoms of cholera they should seek medical care immediately.”

In an interview yesterday, Malawi Health Equity Network executive director George Jobe said cholera status in the country is worrisome as cases continue to rise. 

He said it was almost every Malawian’s expectation to see cholera cases going down following the administration of the oral cholera vaccine in some parts of the country.

Said Jobe: “We need to do more on awareness raising because it is not only telling people that we have cholera and these are the preventive measures, we also need to sensitise people on the symptoms and signs so that once people note that, they should quickly rush to health facilities.

“HSAs [Health surveillance assistants] and community development assistants from the Ministry of Gender, [Community Development and Social Welfare] must monitor households so that people have toilets and are well covered.”

However, Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (Cdedi) has demanded President Lazarus Chakwera to immediately remove Chiponda over the handling of the cholera outbreak.

In an interview, Cdedi executive director Sylvester Namiwa said the country is losing a lot of people to cholera which is unheard of in this country.

He said availability of that money and its proper use would have improved the situation on the ground.

Namiwa said: “In this time and age cholera should not be such a menace especially after government put aside K20 billion to fight against the outbreak.

“What is more disturbing is that as the death toll to the epidemic increases nationwide, government still seems clueless at its approach to contain the disease.  This is manifested in the current shortage of cholera medicines and medical supplies in public health facilities,” he said.

Since the onset of cholera outbreak in March this year, as of December 25 2022, cumulatively, the country had recorded 15 064 cases with 470 deaths. Mangochi was the highest with 3 882 cases and 77 deaths, followed by Salima’s 1 611 cases and 42 deaths. Nkhata Bay had reported 1 498 cases with 44 deaths, Blantyre has 1 456 cases with 65 deaths, while Nkhotakota has 1 177 cases with 51 deaths.

So far, the cholera outbreak has been contained in six districts, namely Thyolo, Ntchisi, Kasungu, Likoma, Chitipa and Mzimba North.

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