The European Union (EU) has given Malawi emergency humanitarian funding of €1.5 million to support the country’s efforts to address a cholera outbreak that has claimed over 1,500 lives over the past year.
Malawi is currently battling a deadly cholera outbreak that started in February 2022 and is considered the worst in a decade, with more than 49,000 cases and over 1,500 deaths reported so far in all of the country’s 29 districts.
“Our funding will support our humanitarian partners on the ground in controlling and eventually vanquishing the disease,” EU commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarčič said in a statement on Friday.
He revealed that the EU had also increased by €500,000 its contribution to an ongoing UNICEF project providing life-saving health and WASH services to cholera-affected communities in Malawi.
The bloc had originally provided €540,000 for the UNICEF project in November 2022.
The cholera outbreak has been blamed on the use unsafe and contaminated water sources and poor hygiene practices among affected communities.
Malawi has suffered serious damage to water and other infrastructure due to heavy rains, cyclones and floods over the past few years, resulting in communities resorting to unsafe sources of drinking water.
JN/APA