By Wezzie Gausi:
The Parliamentary Committee on Health and HIV has said it is worried with the resurfacing of leprosy in the country.
In 2021, the country reported 347 leprosy cases, with 388 cases registered in 2022.
This year, districts such as Machinga have already registered over three cases, with the Ministry of Health indicating that the country could register over 200 cases in 2023.
Committee chairperson Matthews Ngwale said they have, so far, been informed about nine cases of leprosy registered this year.
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“Through our visits to hospitals and health centres across Malawi, we have discovered that the disease has resurfaced. All along, we thought that the disease was eliminated, only to be told by officials from the Ministry of Health that the disease was not eliminated but there were no new cases recorded,” Ngwale said.
Meanwhile, quality health advocate Maziko Matemba has said leprosy must be given as much attention as other diseases.
He said all players in the health sector should join hands to deal with the disease.
“This is a sad development for our country. We need to have enough stock of medicines and all other needed things for the elimination of the disease,” Matemba said.
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However, Secretary for Health Samson Mndolo has dismissed reports that the country has an outbreak of leprosy.
He said the truth is that the ministry has noted that the proportion of people presenting to local facilities with disabilities due to leprosy has been increasing.
“This is an indication that there are undiagnosed leprosy cases in our communities. This has prompted the ministry to mount a response through community sensitisation, capacity building among healthcare workers and also improved recoding and reporting.
“Consequently, the country is now reporting more cases as before because of this scaled-up screening and diagnosis,” Mndolo said.
