COVID-19 in Malawi

Today, one of the members of our board from Malawi writes about the covid-19 pandemic in Malawi. He is a doctor in Malawi and has his own clinic. He writes about the impact of the virus in Malawi and what it means to himself, being a doctor.

Malawi is located in the south-east of Africa and has around 18 million inhabitants.

Covid-19 did not skip Malawi. Also in Malawi, a lot of people are infected with the virus and a number of people died. And also other things are being influenced by covid. On the airports, people are being screenend and tested. The schools were closed for 5 monts. There were special guidelines for health care workers. Before a building could be entered, hands must be washed. There are several rules and regulations made by the government to protect the people from the virus.

At this moment, the number of new cases is low. Underneath, there is a picture of the current situation in Malawi, about the spreading of the virus.

The new virus did impact Malawi. When we are looking at the economy, we can see that many people who are having their own businesses, are suffering. Malawi does not have enough savings. The worth of the money decreased and businesses are having a hard time. There are less vacancies and a lot of people were send home (without salary) by their employers. They do not have an income. Also, we see an increase of unsave abortions, causing an increased need of medical items and medication. Another problem is that more teenage girls marry and get pregnant. When those girls were able to go to school, they had a purpose in their lives and they had less change to be married off or to marry at a young age. Especially in the villages we see a lot of young girls that are pregnant and most likely will never finish their schooling.

There are not enough protection means for the people of Malawi that work in the health care. It was great to see that many international organisations donated protection to Malawi. It remains important that Malawian people protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities. It is good that most people know the signs and symptoms of the virus. And many Malawians who have had the virus, recovered without medical assistance. There is no cure for covid-19, but we do know that immunity plays an important role. Many other things are still unknown yet. We did see that people from the villages, that were better able to keep their distances and did not shake hands, were less infected by the virus than people from the cities.

For me as a doctor, it was a very scary time, and it still iss. We know how the virus spreads from one person to another. The knowledge of this makes many doctors to do their daily work with fear, although the fear decreases now that we know more about covid-19 and we are getting used to the pandamic. I know for sure that the fear of the virus has helpend us to give the best care to the people, especially on the intensive care wards. In my own clinic, I tried to keep as much distance from my patients as possible, to wear a safe face mask and to wash my hands regularly. Untill now, the Lord protected me from the virus. I hope and pray that this will stay the same.