Cholera hits 36 in Nsanje, 2 Malawi nationals die

Two people have died while 36 others are under treatment following an outbreak of the deadly waterborne disease in Nsanje district.

A visit at Ndamera Health Centre in the district on Wednesday where the Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) has mounted a Cholera Treatment Centre, revealed that four of the affected people are members of the same family.

According MSF Emergency Coordinator for Nsanje Simon Burroughs, Malawi’s ministry of health and other stakeholders is going everything possible to prevent the disease from spreading into flood camps.

“With the congestions we are currently experiencing, it will be disastrous if the disease hits the camps,” said Burroughs.

Burroughs added, out of the two that died, one mate the fate right in the community, while the second one died at the treatment centre.

Concurring with Burroughs, one of the medical doctors working on the ground Dancan Owino added that the worst hit areas include Mbenje, Ndamera and Ching’ona that have all recorded an average of three cases in the past two weeks.

“So far, we cannot describe the situation as bad. This is due to thevlevel of preparedness by both the MSF and the ministry of health,” said Owino.