LILONGWE, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Malawi health authorities have launched cholera vaccination campaigns in four districts following the resurgence of the disease, which has caused over 200 cases and at least 13 deaths since September 2024.
Spokesperson in the Ministry of Health Adrian Chikumbe shared the update with local media on Sunday via a social media group, identifying Chitipa and Karonga in the north and Balaka and Machinga in the south as the affected districts.
Chikumbe said that Malawi has received over 720,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) from the World Health Organization (WHO), with plans to administer them in the affected areas by mid-January.
Malawi previously battled its worst cholera outbreak in March 2022, declaring it a National Public Health Emergency on Dec. 5 of the same year. Thanks to extensive vaccination and awareness campaigns, the outbreak was officially declared over on Aug. 5, 2023, after recording 59,376 cases and 1,772 deaths.
The disease reemerged in September 2024, starting in the northern districts of Chitipa and Karonga, which border Tanzania, before spreading to Balaka and Machinga, located along the border with Mozambique.
