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
Disability Project
In September and October of this year Sheila and Jane were in Sitima working with people with disabilities. Disabled people and their families are very often among the poorest in a very poor area.
Murals in church
Many thanks to Geraldine and Nigel Higgs who brightened up St Joseph’s Church in Sitima, with beautiful murals.
Recovering from Cyclone Idai
Classrooms at Mitole suffered a serious battering during the storms earlier in the year.