Corona Virus Pandemic: A Case of Prevention in Rural Malawi

Abstract

Covid-19 has brought untold harm and human suffering worldwide. Deaths and economic recessions continue to increase in many countries of the world particularly in European countries. In the recent past, Africa presented itself as less affected than the rest of the world but now the situation is changing dramatically. An intervention study was done in two districts of rural Malawi namely Thyolo and Mulanje to reduce infection rate of covid-19. Ten villages comprising of 852 households were included in the study. Personal protective equipment Resources (PPEs) coupled with preventive messages with an emphasis on hand washing, distancing, wearing of face masks and contact tracing were mainly the content of the messages. Washing buckets with taps, basins and soaps were provided in groups. The villages were followed up six months later and established that diarrhoea diseases reduced among the under-fives and in the adult population. The findings of the study concluded that as communities adhered to the prevention measures of covid-19, other diseases related to poor sanitation reduced in the studied population. Based on the study findings, it is recommended to increase the study population and resources for the prevention of covid-19 disease to yield positive domain effect. Conducting a country wide similar study would be beneficial and need to be considered which will prevent the general population from covid-19 and other water borne diseases.