By Jarson Malowa & Pemphero Malimba:
Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda has said her ministry it taking new measures to contain the spread of conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye disease.
By Friday last week, Malawi had registered at least 800 cases of the condition, which creates irritation in the eyes but rarely affects vision.
Pink eye can be contagious, according to health experts, and getting early diagnosis and taking certain precautions can help limit its spread.
After Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhata Bay and Nkhotakota, Lilongwe and Blantyre have also registered cases of the disease.
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Addressing the press in Zomba last week, Kandodo Chiponda said her ministry has intensified media engagements and awareness campaigns with the aim of sending across prevention messages.
“We are encouraging Malawians to avoid handshakes. We encourage hygiene; we also encourage people to wash their hands regularly as we did during cholera and Covid outbreaks,” the minister said.
Blantyre District Health Office said in a statement that it has recorded three pink eye disease cases, one at Chilomoni and two at Kadidi health centres.
The statement, signed by the district’s Director of Health and Social Services Gift Kawalazira, revealed that people’s travel history indicated they all passed through Karonga, which was the first district to register cases.
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Meanwhile, health rights activist Maziko Matemba has called for more concerted efforts in preventing the spread of conjunctivitis.
Matemba said inter-ministerial cooperation would be key to containing the disease.
“We have schools, markets and other public places and most of them are congested and there the disease can easily spread.
“So, it is important that ministries of Health, Education and others cooperate in the fight. We learnt during the Covid and cholera outbreaks that inter-ministerial cooperation is crucial in such matters,” Matemba said.
Signs and symptoms of conjunctivitis include pink or red colour in the white part of the eye, swelling of the eye lining, increased tear production, itching, eye discharge, painful eye and visual disturbance.
Earlier this year, Tanzanian authorities issued an alert over the outbreak of the disease, which the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says is mostly self-limited and does not require antimicrobial treatment.
“Antiviral medication may be used to treat more serious forms of conjunctivitis, such as conjunctivitis caused by herpes simplex virus or varicella-zoster virus,” CDC says.
