Malawi News

Zomba - In the remote community of Tongwe, an island on Lake Chirwa in Zomba district, Malawi, a small crowd gathers under the shade of an old mango tree as health workers prepare for the day’s vaccination drive. Among them is Mercy Simate, 34, a mother of six.  

She sits quietly, holding her four-month-old daughter, Victoria, on her lap. Today is a special day for Mercy and her youngest child. Victoria is about to receive her first doses of the Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DPT), Pneumococcal Conjugate, and Rotavirus vaccine. 

Lilongwe- WHO Malawi, officially handed over 48 sets of Pediatric Severe Acute Malnutrition kits worth MK62,230,980.00 to the Ministry of Health.

Malawi has been experiencing frequent cholera outbreaks since it reported the first case in 1973. The most significant outbreaks occurred in the cholera seasons of 1998/1999 and 2001/2002. The worst outbreak occurred recently in 2022/2023 with 53,020 cases and 1,586 deaths (3%CFR).

In February 2022, a single case of Wild Polio Virus 1 sent shockwaves in Malawi, a case of a 14-year-old child in Ndirande, Blantyre changing the focus from under 5 routine immunization at birth to children aged 0-15 group as a target to combat the outbreak. The virus was genetically linked to a sequence from Pakistan, detected two years’ prior in Sindh province.

It was a regular day in Mwansambo Village, Dwangwa Nkhotakota. Che Wisiki walked in the rain drizzles with his wife Patuma to their home, satisfied they had done enough to guarantee higher yields in the cropping season. Little did they know that these rain drizzles heralding hope would turn into a disaster.

Lilongwe – The Government of Malawi through the Public Health Institute of Malawi has declared the end of a protracted Cholera Outbreak, more than two years after the declaration of the outbreak was made on 3 March 2022.  

According to the Secretary of Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr Samson Mdolo, the end of outbreak declaration was made in line with Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) guidelines following zero reports of cholera in Malawi for more than four weeks.

Lilongwe ‒ Shombe Banda from Kasungu District in Central Malawi was a tobacco farmer for 35 years. He recently switched to growing other crops, such as soya beans, groundnuts and maize. His motivation to change was mostly economic, he says. 

Mapangano Jeremiah, a truck driver from Nkope in Mangochi, crisscrosses the borders of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and South Africa as part of his work. Recently, he received his third Covid-19 vaccine during the recent nationwide vaccination campaign supported by the WHO in February 2024. Having experienced the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic firsthand, Mapangano reflects on the loss of many friends and the profound impact it had on his life.