Phalombe cholera status delights authorities

Health authorities in Phalombe have said they are happy that the district is yet to register a case of cholera this rainy season.

At this time in 2015/2016, the district had registered 95 cases of cholera. Thankfully, only a single person died due to the outbreak which mostly occur during rainy season.

Asked why no case has been recorded this season, the District Environmental Health Officer Chimwemwe Dickson Jella told Malawi24 that his office prepared well knowing the district is one of the hotspots of the outbreak.

Jella said the health office in collaboration with other non-governmental organizations which are working on health related issues in the district made a lot of interventions so as to prevent the outbreak.

“We have reached many traditional authorities where now about three out of six of them have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) with support from United Purpose and other organizations and it’s our hope that by 2019 they will all take ODF status.

“We have been civic educating people around the district including at Njalo Island using Cinemas where messages of cholera have been disseminated,” said Jella.

He added that 70 percent of households in the district have got toilets which has contributed to the progress made on cholera.

According to Jella, Phalombe, Machinga and Zomba DHOs have developed a plan on how to prevent the outbreak around Lake Chirwa which they all share.

Malawi24 visited two health facilities, Chiteketsa and Mkhwayi Health Centres, which are close to Lake Chirwa where most times they register high cases of cholera outbreak.

In-charge at Chiteketsa Emmanuel Njirazafa said every morning they usually conduct health talk with people who come to seek medical help and they engage people in community meetings so as to prevent any death of a person as was the case in 2016.

Phalombe is one of the districts that usually register high number of cases of cholera in Malawi.