Peter Kanowa, a representative of people living with disabilities in Balaka District, says people with various forms of disabilities are at great risk of contracting cholera as most of them do not have adequate information as regards the outbreak.
Speaking in an interview with Malawi24, Kanowa said the trend should be checked in a bid to protect people living with disabilities from the outbreak.
He said: ”Most of the people living with disabilities and especially those living in hard-to-reach areas don’t have adequate Information on cholera and sometimes their guardians may not even have the right information,as a result, this makes them more vulnerable to the outbreak.”
Speaking on Tuesday during a full council meeting where stakeholders were briefed on ”kuthetsa Kolera M’malawi” campaign, the district’s acting Director of Health and Social Services Dr. Chimwemwe Thambo assured the gathering that, the district council will address the challenge and that everyone will be involved in the fight against the outbreak.
“Through the campaign, we plan to intensify and scale up interventions at community level in a drive to combat the outbreak. Therefore, deliberate efforts have been put in place to reach each and everybody at community level with awareness messages as well as other interventions aimed at combating the outbreak,” Thambo said.
In the campaign, the council plans to scale up community awareness, community water chlorination and setting up Oral-Rehydration Salts (ORS) stations.
President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera officially launched the campaign on 13th February,2023 in Lilongwe.
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