Lilongwe- Today, the Malawi Ministry of Health has officially declared that Cholera is no longer a national public health emergency in the country. The Minister of Health, Honourable Khumbize Kandodo-Chiponda, MP accompanied by Minister of Water and Sanitation Honourable Abida Mia, MP made the announcement at a press briefing held in Lilogwe. This follows the milestone that the country has attained in containing the cholera outbreak in 26 out of 29 districts. Currently, the country is recording sporadic cases in selected areas of Chikwawa, Mangochi and Zomba especially in Cyclonne Freddy affected areas with less than five patients a day. The Health Minister also informed the public that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency of international concern, citing that COVID-19 cases have remained equally low. The data and trends evidence continued and significant decline in new cases and deaths over the past three months achieving a decline in threat level from 3 to 1. She detailed the decision is guided by National Public Health Emergency grading and the World Health Organization (WHO)classification systems for public Health threats.

Kandodo Chiponda stated that Malawi’s Cholera success story is owed to government efforts, development partners and communities themselves in the fight against the outbreak. The two ministers have called for increased and collaborative water sanitation and hygiene interventions as a preventive measure to Cholera in the three remaining districts and country at large to maintain the status quo. The Minister of Health highlighted that Malawi secured 1.4 million doses of Oral Cholera Vaccine this year; she stressed that cholera vaccines are not a preventative measure but a complimentary approach to fighting the disease.

WHO Technical Officer, Ishmael Nyasulu congratulated the government and people of Malawi for the hard-fought milestone in containing the biggest Cholera outbreak in history. Nyasulu underscored on the need for intensive water sanitation and behaviour change interventions to maintain the situation and improve on emergency preparedness for the future. He reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to continue working on residual risk of Cholera and sporadic cases until completely contained. He said as the country is moving from the response phase to recovery and preparedness phases, WHO will continue to work hand-in-glove to improve the government’s preparedness and operational readiness to protect the lives of its citizens and prevent public health emergencies of this scale from happening in the future.

“In the surge of the outbreak, we have seen great unity and strengthened efforts in working together. Our initiatives are now aimed at strengthening these efforts towards making the country more resilient and develop mitigation capacities to avoid having future cholera outbreaks and any other public health emergencies” Nyasulu said.

The country has been battling Cholera outbreak since February 2022. The Outbreak was declared a national public health emergency in December 2022. Following which, President Lazarus Chakwera launched the Tithetse Cholera campaign in February 2023 to garner collective support towards the outbreak. As of August 2023, a total of 58,982 cholera cases including 1,768 deaths have been reported. On the COVID-19 front, no cases of deaths have been reported in the country’s hospitals in the past 4 months, however the country has cumulatively reported 88,835 cases and 2,686 deaths.