One cholera case has been registered in Lilongwe. 

Lilongwe District Health Promotion Officer Richard Mvula confirmed the development Friday in an interview with Malawi News Agency.

“I can confirm that we have registered a cholera case in Mgona in Area 25. We took the samples and tested them and the results came out positive,” he said.

However, Mvula said the patient has already been treated and has been discharged from the hospital.

Meanwhile, Story Workshop, an organization that promotes hygiene and sanitation in the district, has said there is need to intensify messages on good hygiene practices in a number of areas in Lilongwe District to avoid spread of the disease.

Project Officer for Story Workshop in Lilongwe, Innocent Mankhwazi, said cholera can be prevented if people take serious good hygiene practices, such as washing hands before eating any food and washing hands with soap after visiting the toilet. 

Last year, Lilongwe was one of the districts in the country that was hit hard by the cholera outbreak. 

Reported By Andrew Mkonda

First Lady Monica Chakwera says Malawi has made significant progress to eliminate cases of Tuberculosis (TB) for the past years.

Chakwera said this during the End Tuberculosis Innovation Summit held in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) conference.

She said TB incidences have been reduced from 197 per 100,000 people in 2015 to 125 per 100,000 in 2022.

Chakwera expressed concerned over women and girls in rural areas who walk long distances to access quality treatment hence encourage door to door treatment to ensure that patients are diagnosed early.

She said: “TB strategies of such as mobile diagnostics, community sputum collection, door to door screening are enablers to end TB by 2030.

She added that challenges such as lack of resources and poor service delivery require collective efforts to mobilize and adequately implement strategies that will help end TB.

She, therefore, appealed for more support from various stakeholders and international institutions saying it help will boost the program and service delivery for Malawi to achieve TB elimination.

In his remarks Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Jae Wook Choi, ambassador of Global Health security said the summit has been at the forefront of the fight against TB for over a decade now.

“Let us all be united and commit ourselves to bridge the gap and strengthen the growing and thriving TB innovations ecosystem to eliminate TB,” he said.

He said the strategy of fighting TB which includes prevention, preparedness and response are paramount hence the need to advance science finance and innovation to ensure more access to quality treatment testing as well as care.

The global plan to End TB 2023 – 2030 is a plan for ending TB as a challenge by 2030. It brings together leaders in the TB and global health space that includes donors, new stakeholder funders as well as innovators. 

By Lisa Kadango Malango

The Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) has said it will start implementing a project on HIV and AIDS in Nkhotakota District with its interventions focusing on men and boys from October to December, 2023.

Speaking during project presentation to Nkhotakota District Executive Committee (DEC) members on Thursday, EAM Regional Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Officer, Henry Bentry Mwalwanda, said the project is targeting men and boys because they are the ones that shun hospital or counseling services the most.

“This project is a faith-based community HIV and AIDS initiative where the evangelical religious body is about to intervene and share awareness information on HIV and AIDS through faith community initiatives for men and boys to have access to sexual and reproductive health services,” he said.

Mwalwanda further said most communities harbor men and boys that avoid the opportunity to get help.

In his remarks, Nkhotakota District Council Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, John Manda, described the initiative as a commendable project in as far as male health education and HIV and AIDS interventions are concerned. 

He said it was disheartening to see several projects targeting women and children, leaving out boys and men. Manda, therefore, expressed pleasure to see institutions like EAM coming in to balance the interventions so that the entire populace is attended to. 

During the three-month project implementation, EAM is projected to spend about K27 million in Nkhotakota District, according to EAM officials. 

Reported By Fletcher Chiponda

The SRHR African Trust (SAT) said there is lack of knowledge on HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) issues in institutions of higher learning in the country.

SAT Country Director, Robert Mangwazu Phiri made the remarks on Saturday in Lilongwe during a day-long meeting between different colleges and Civil Society Organizations working in HIV and other sexual reproductive health rights services.

The meeting, held under the theme; “Engaging Young People to Action” was aimed at empowering the youth take action on such issues.

“There is knowledge gap amongst the students in these institutions mainly because civil society organizations working in HIV and other sexual reproductive health rights services sideline higher learning institutions in their projects,” said Mangwazu

He said SAT is trying it’s level best to bridge the gap by working hand in hand with the College of Medicine, National Aids Commission (NAC) and the Lighthouse Trust.

Mangwazu’s remarks were echoed by students who attended the meeting.

“We hope the authorities should discuss and rectify this issue,” said one of the students at Dowa DAPP Teachers Training College, Charity Dzama

Malawi is targeting to reach out to 9,728, 350 children under 15 years, representing 95 percent of the population in the upcoming Polio Immunization campaign from next week.

The exercise will run from 13th to 16th September 2023

Deputy Director for preventive health services Dr. Mike Chisema made the remarks in Mponela on Friday during a media briefing.

Chisema, who is also National Manager for Expanded Programme on immunization said polio vaccine is very important to children as it protects them against paralysis.

He said the exercise is the only mainstay strategy in managing polio disease because once an individual has been diagnosed with the virus and paralysis starts then the effects are non-reversal

UNICEF Malawi representative Dr Ibrahim Karim called on the media to be on the forefront mobilizing parents and guardians to make sure that all the children are vaccinated.

“I believe that the media can play a critical role of changing people’s mindset and myths on the vaccines as most part of the population are of the view that there has been too much vaccines lately which might affect their children hence resisting the vaccine,” said Karim.

Door To Door Campaign

On Friday, the Lilongwe District Health Office (DHO) engaged social mobilisers who are going door to door to interact with parents and caregivers prior to the 2023 second round of polio vaccination campaign in order to clear myths and misconceptions surrounding the vaccine.

Lilongwe DHO, which registered one polio case of a three-year-old in February, 2022, will conduct the campaign from 13th to 16th September, 2023 using a door-to-door approach targeting 1.4 million children aged zero to 15 years.

Lilongwe DHO Public Relations Officer, Richard Mvula said during a media interaction in Lilongwe on Friday that engaging stakeholders in the campaign is important for them to understand the intervention.

He expressed concern that every time a new intervention is introduced there are misconceptions which affect its administration hence the need for awareness through engaging those involved.

“We are engaging parents. All parents have the best interest of their children at heart but because, maybe, some of them are not aware what the program or intervention is all about they tend to shun it. So, we are trying to interact with them so that they understand and take part.

“We are also engaging school committees and teachers because the age band falls in schools. We are doing this so that everyone understands the intervention. Government is taking this intervention to the community not for sinister motives but to protect all children in this age band,” he said.

One of the participants, Perina Wahara who works for PLFM expressed gratitude for for the interaction saying the information shared will go a long way in sensitising the communities on the importance of the vaccine.

In July, 2023 Ministry of Health launched a campaign to vaccinate nine million children aged 15 and below.

Additional Reporting By Patricia Kapulula

 

 

 

 

District Nursing Midwifery officer at Bwaila hospital, Bertha Mwale Kaudza says the hospital is overwhelmed with abortion cases as the hospital gets about 268 post abortion cases per month referred to the facility, most of which are complications emanating from unsafe abortions.

The Officer said this during a study tour that Family Planning Association of Malawi, FPAM in conjunction with European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF) organized for Members of Parliament (MPs) from European Countries to appreciate how sexual and reproductive health issues are facilitated in the country.

Kaudza said Bwaila hospital is not enough for the Lilongwe population because the time the facility was constructed it was intended for a small population and only for offering gynecology services and delivery. But with the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health services, there are more clients coming for admissions.

“I really appreciate the visit of parliamentarians from European Countries so that we can show them how we are handling the sexual and reproductive health issues at our facility, we are receiving a lot of post abortion cases which means that as a country we need to do more in offering sexual and reproductive health services especially on family planning,” said Kaudza

Commenting on the same, Savel Kafwafwa, member of Malawi parliament and chair for social and community affairs committee of parliament said Malawi as a country is struggling in several areas including sexual and reproductive health issues that is why the hospital is seeing a lot of unsafe abortion cases emanating from unwanted pregnancies.

“We can see the evidence at the facility that the hospital is overwhelmed as we see a lot of admitted clients being helped on the floor and even sleeping there. Many of these cases here are clients coming for post abortion cases and as members of parliament we need to make sure that the population is educated on sexual and reproductive health issues as well as have enough supplies on family planning to reduce unwanted pregnancies,” he said.

Before visiting Bwaila District Hospital, the Members of Parliament from European Countries had a caucus with some Malawian Members of Parliament in the member’s chamber at parliament building where the two sides discussed the status of sexual and reproductive health issues in the country.

Members of parliament from Romania, Finland, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium expressed gratitude to have travelled to Malawi and appreciate the sexual and reproductive health services so that they can see how they can come in to help reduce the cases of unwanted pregnancies through family planning services.

“With this opportunity of visiting Malawi we will see how we can improve the progress of sexual and reproductive health issues, as we heard in the meeting with MPs that education is key to dealing with sexual and reproductive health issues, we hope to lobby for more help in SRH education when we go back home,’ said Laurence Zanchetta, member of parliament from Finland. 

The MPs from European Countries are part of European Parliamentary forum, a network of parliamentarians across Europe who are committed to protecting the sexual and reproductive health of the world’s most vulnerable population.

By Kumbukani Kondowe

 

 

 

Christian Healthcare Professionals Network UK (CHPnet), a network of Christian doctors, nurses, midwives, and other registered healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom (UK) on Thursday donated community midwives bags worth £4000 (approx.K5.8 million) to four health centres in Phalombe District recovering from the devastating effects of Cyclone Freddy.

President of CHPnet UK Dr Chimwemwe Kalumbi-Mkambula said the group was moved to make the donation of the midwives bags after seeing the devastating effects that Cyclone Freddy had especially on the healthcare system in the worst hit areas like Phalombe.

“Our network is inspired by our Christian faith and values, and we seek to serve God and our neighbours through our work and witness. One of the ways we express our vision and mission is by supporting humanitarian needs in the healthcare sector in different parts of the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries where resources are scarce and needs are great.”

“Every mother and baby deserve the safest birth experience possible, no matter the place of birth. It is essential that all professionals, working in all environments, have the equipment and training to feel confident, competent, and valued to deliver safe compassionate care,” said Kalumbi-Mkambula.

She said the community midwives bags were purchased through Baby Lifeline, a UK mother and baby charity that developed a rucksack style bag with adjustable straps and optional wheels and are  compartmentalized and colour coded to make it easier to identify equipment quickly.

According to CHPnet, the bag provides everything needed for births at home, community health centres and even remote areas including any emergencies. It is designed for infection-control and easy transport and our donation will go directly to health centres in Phalombe District that were heavily affected by the aftermath of cyclone Freddy.

CHPnet worked together with World Vision Malawi, which supported them with logistics including clearance of the shipment and delivery of the donation to Phalombe District Hospital,  the charity Every Mother and Child Matters and Church of Pentecost Malawi.

CHPnet executives hailed their  members in the UK and Malawi, especially the Church of Pentecost UK and its national executives who were the biggest donors.

Programs Manager for World Vision Malawi in Mulanje and Phalombe Districts Linda Kanjanga Phiri thanked CHPnet for the donation of the Midwives bags describing it as ‘timely’.

“As World Vision Malawi we would like to thank the CHPNet UK for the timely support as we ensure that mothers and babies continue to enjoy safe delivery in the district,” she said.

Phalombe District Nursing Officer Felistus Mpachika received and welcomed  the donations on behalf of the hospital.  

Also present during the handover ceremony included National Head of Church of Pentecost Malawi Apostle Patrick Andrew Pangani and his wife Mrs. Fanny Blessings Pangani, Pastor Isaac Kabwese from Every Mother and Child Matters and other health officials.

Key players in HIV and AIDS prevention and care says excited with how Umodzi Friendly Clinic under Lighthouse trust in blantyre delivers its services to HIV recipients of care.

The sentiments comes after the team which composed of the parliamentary committee on HIV and AIDS, National AIDS Commission (NAC) and board of trustees from Lighthouse trust toured Umodzi Friendly Clinic in Blantyre on Wednesday.

Speaking to The Atlas, on the sidelines of the tour, Chairperson of Lighthouse sub committee trust Dr Dorothy Namate said they are delighted with the clinics service delivery and environment which they operate which she describes as suitable and excellent to the HIV recipient of care.

“We appreciate the level of hardwork the team at the clinic have shown in carrying out their duties at this clinic and we have confidence that the recipients of care are being taken very good care and professionally,” said Namate.

Namate added that the clinic gives care to ART recipient to not less than 16,000 since its inception and advised the general public to feel free and get the HIV and AIDS services for free to those in Blantyre and surrounding areas.

Darlington Harawa is the outgoing chairman for the parliamentary committee on HIV and AIDS and nutrion who applauded umodzi friendly clinic for its effort of providing quality services to the general public on HIV and AIDS related issues.

“We have toured the facility its smart and conducive for the recipient of care to get their medication and all necessary help without hustles and we hope that this will continue for the benefit of malawians”, said Dowa central member of Parliament Harawa.

Umodzi light house clinic operationalized its services in 2017 and is currently attending to 16000 recipient of care in Blantyre.