Covid-19 rates soar in Malawi
Like many sub- saharan countries Malawi is continually fighting against disease whether it be the ever present malaria or more recently, as the rest of the world, coronavirus. At the end of December there had been a total of 6000 cases in Malawi but by the end of January the number of cases had quadrupled bringing the total to 23953. This sudden increase is thought to be due to the emergence of the highly transmissible South African variant.
The already overburdened health service is stretched, there are no vaccines available, not even for doctors and other healthcare workers, and many of them are succumbing to the disease. Medicine sans Frontiere (MSF) is appealing for only 40,000 vaccines to secure the well-being of health service frontline workers and thereby keeping the health service operational.
To read more about this difficult situation click on the link below to a CN news report
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/africa/malawi-covid-19-vaccine-nationalism-intl/index.html
Other News
Many thanks to the Ladies from Arnside
Members of the Arnside Stitch-in-Time Group have generously donated a suitcase full of goodies to be taken out by Alice and Marian as they travel to Malawi.
What a privilege
One of our volunteers is currently out in Malawi and in this post she describes the joy of handing over new purpose built house to two octogenarians who lost their homes and all their belongings in a cyclone earlier in the year
Jane returns to UK
Jane Colling is just back in UK following her first (and probably not her last) stint in Sitima. Jane has produced a reflective account of her experiences which you will find in the volunteer section.