Tropical storms, flooding and Cholera: Malawi faces cholera emergency amidst severe climate events

Lilongwe, 17 March 2022 - Tropical Storm Ana, and subsequently Cyclone Gombe have battered southern Malawi, bringing heavy rains and flooding to multiple districts. The heavy rains resulted in extensive destruction of infrastructure and disruption of water and sanitation systems - a recipe for Cholera. In the Districts of Machinga and Mangochi 19 cholera cases and 1 death have been reported.

Gombe made an initial landfall in Mozambique on Friday, March 11th, as a category 3 tropical cyclone and it continued its way to Malawi on Sunday, March 13th. Today, 15 days later, rainfall and storm surge persist, causing flooding and destruction of infrastructure, and affecting the livelihoods of people such as Felia Lanken.

Felia had already been sheltering in the Mithuthu camp when the latest storm hit. One of over 500 people sheltering from January’s tropical storm Ana, she had been looking forward to returning to her life as a farmer when tropical cyclone Gombe besieged Malawi on Sunday.

¨It has rained non stop for a week now, and we have been living here since January. We need urgent assistance,” she says, showing the entrance to a tent she shares with nine other people. The camp is one of nearly 170 established in southern Malawi. Heavily affected by the floods, they have been hosting over 200,000 internally displaced people since storm Ana made landfall in late January. WHO has done the pertinent risk assessment of the situation.

Just ten minutes away from the camp, Martha shows the devastation of successive extreme weather events in her neighborhood.
“Ever since the first storm arrived, we have not been able to recover. My garden is destroyed and there are many children around that deserve to grow up in a safe environment,” she says. “The humidity here is terrible and the rain does not stop. These are not proper conditions to live in.”

Despite that, she cannot help but smile thinking of better opportunities in the near future: “I hope it will all be fine soon. We cannot afford to be like this for a long time.”

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated. Since the first case of Cholera was confirmed, WHO has worked with the Ministry of Health to conduct a risk assessment of the situation and coordinate an effective response. WHO is providing support to the Ministry of Health to quickly putting in place the mechanisms to fight a potential outbreak in other hotspot areas.

The organization has procured cholera investigation, laboratory, and case management kits to facilitate sample collection from suspect cases, onsite rapid diagnostic testing, sample transportation to the laboratory and eventual testing. These emergency cholera kits will be prepositioned in high-risk districts to enhance response & readiness. WHO is also supporting the clinical management of cholera cases at designated cholera treatment centers.

Malawi has been responding to multiple public health emergencies. Since January 2022, when tropical storm Ana was declared a national disaster, Malawi has registered polio and cholera outbreaks, even as the country continues to implement the national COVID response and socio-economic recovery plans.

“The recurrent flooding and associated health risks is situation underscores the imperative to implement Malawi’s commitments to a climate resilient and low carbon health system in Malawi,” says WHO Representative in Malawi, Dr Janet Kayita.