Polio resurfaces, declared health emergency

Ministry of Health and Sanitation has declared polio a public health emergency following confirmation of a new case in Blantyre, marking the first recorded case since 2022. The ministry said the virus has been identified as circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) which has also been detected in samples collected from two sewage treatment plants within the commercial city. Blantyre district director of health and social services Dr Gift Kawalazira also confirmed in an interview yesterday that the district recorded the case of a seven-year-old boy from Makhetha Township.

“He has never received a vaccine due to his parents’ religious beliefs,” he said. Ministry of Health and Sanitation spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe has since said the government will launch a supplementary vaccination campaign targeting children in Blantyre, but may later expand to other districts once resources are mobilised. He said there are several strains of the polio virus and immunisation campaigns have happened.

“It shows that one strain has mutated and resurfaced. That is why we are responding with another vaccination campaign so that children can receive another vaccine,” said Chikumbe. Kamuzu University of Health Sciences professor of public health and epidemiology Adamson Muula said that the oral polio vaccine contains a weakened form of the virus that stimulates the body’s immune response.

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In rare cases, he said the weakened virus can mutate and cause infection or be transmitted to another person. Muula also linked the outbreak to poor sanitation and limited access to clean water, noting similarities between polio and cholera transmission. He said: “It is very hard to access clean water in an environment where poverty is extreme and clean water is not a luxury for many of our citizens.

“As we move out of poverty as a country, the issue of clean water must be taken seriously. At an individual level, sanitation and hygiene must also be prioritised.” The ministry declared the outbreak of polio, a disease that can cause irreversible paralysis, in a statement dated January 27, 2026 signed by Principal Secretary Dan Namarika. In February 2022, Malawi recorded a single case of Wild Polio Virus type 1, prompting authorities to expand immunisation efforts from routine vaccination at birth to targeting children aged between 0 and 15 years.

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