On 18 June 2017, Malawians woke up to the rude awakening that residents of some parts of Area 18 in Lilongwe, were drinking contaminated water. It is said that an underground supply line burst near a sewer broken system that was emitting sewer water into the supply line.

For days, it remained unclear to what extent the water was contaminated. As part of its mandate the Nation Microbiology Reference Lab, collected a sample of water from the area and conducted extensive tests. It was discovered that the water had Ecoli and Enterobacter cloacae normally found in sewage and can causes diarrhoea.

The results were shared with the Ministry of Health and the President’s Special Task Force on Area 18 Contamination to guide them on the possible treatment of the pathogens.

Construction of Isolation wards was resumed after the project had stalled due to the absence of Environmental and Social Management plans- a requirement by the World Bank. The project was launched as an emergency response to the outbreak of the Ebola Virus that hit West Africa in 2014. Malawi was at the time identified as one of the countries at risk of getting the virus.

With funding from the World Bank through the National Aids Commission (NAC), the Public Health Institute of Malawi (PHIM) embarked on an Ebola Project that is looking into preparedness, response and control of Ebola and other infectious diseases.

Under this project, PHIM is constructing six isolation shelters in Karonga, Mzuzu, Mchinji, Dedza, Mwanza and Blantyre. A seventh shelter is being constructed at Kamuzu Central Hospital with funds from the Government of Malawi.

The construction of isolation wards also comes with installation of medical incineratos for hospital waste management.

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.