Public Health Institute of Malawi

Author: Phiri Penjani

  • Cholera outbreak in Chikwawa

    Over the months, suspected cases of cholera were reported in Chikwawa. Numerous stool samples were sent to the National Reference Laboratory and the very first case was confirmed in January this year.

    According to Chikwawa District Health Promotion Officer, Settie Piriminta, as at June 2017 the district had recorded 70 cholera cases. He said the district health office has since been carrying out hygiene promotion and awareness meetings to eradicate the disease.

    “There is so much that we have been doing. We are carrying out pot-to-pot chlorination and encouraging the communities to use sanitary facilities. We have taken advantage of existing community structures to help us in the sensitization and behavior change. In the coming months we shall be administering oral cholera vaccine and we hope to see the numbers drop,” said Piriminta.

  • PHIM develops 2018-2023 Strategic Plan

    The PHIM Strategic Plan which was developed in 2012 will expire in December 2017. Following which, the Ministry of Health (MoH) with support from I-TECH, International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) and other stakeholders has initiated the process of reviewing the strategic plan in order to make necessary updates that will reflect changes that occurred in the health and related sectors in the last 5 years.

    Malawi is among the few countries in the world that have developed their national strategic plan.

    The purpose of the review is to assess the functionality and effectiveness of the current plan through time, availability of data as well as engaging national expertise and collaboration of partners, through a participatory approach to help understand the level to which the plan has met its goals. This will allow PHIM to provide stakeholders with a foundation for informed decision making regarding the future of public health in Malawi. 

    The review process involved reviewing and appraising some relevant public health documents collected from the Ministry of Health and other institutions. The Materials were processed and adapted in content and context to the nature and dynamics of health practice in Malawi. Two stakeholders’ workshops followed which brought together variety of participants and facilitators used a combination of different methods; PESTEL and SWOT analysis, presentations, group discussions and sharing of best practice while encouraging high level of participation from stakeholders.

    In the updated plan, functional components were streamlined into five major categories namely: National Reference Laboratory, Research & Development, Epidemiology & Surveillance, Governance & Management and Support Services.

    It is expected that the final PHIM Strategic Plan will be endorsed by MoH Senior Management before end of this year.

  • 10 graduate in FETP cohort 3

    10 graduate in FETP cohort 3

    The Frontline Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP- Frontline) graduated its third cohort of trainees in March this year. Seven trainees working in disease surveillance – both human  and animal health enrolled for the programme.

    The graduants comprised of six officers from Blantyre District Health Office and one officer from Blantyre Animal Health Office. 

    FETP- Frontline program aims at advancing epidemiological capacity at the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (Department of Animal Health and Livestock) by training health professionals in basic field epidemiology.

    Trainings, carried out in cohorts of about 10-15 trainees, last for about 12 weeks. The course is structured into workshops and field work. The first and second workshops are classroom sessions each lasting five days. The third and last workshop is a graduation ceremony where trainees present fieldwork findings, carried out after the first two workshops, and receive a certificate of completion.

    Classroom sessions cover introduction to public health surveillance, data collection, case definitions and line-lists, data quality, summary statistics, displaying data, data interpretation, taking action guided by the data, monitoring and evaluation, outbreak investigation and response, linking the investigation with the laboratory, problem analysis using the fish bone method and scientific presentations. The fieldwork course 1 & 2 requires the trainees to carry out two of the following projects: a data quality audit, surveillance summary report, outbreak investigation, problem analysis and case investigation.

    The Frontline Field Epidemiology Training programme (FETP-Frontline) in Malawi, with funding from Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was launched on 18 April 2016.