Malawi News

In October 2025, a suspected polio case triggered an urgent alert in Malawi’s Mwanza District. The patient was a 9-month-old girl who had been brought to Thambani Health Centre with symptoms of paralysis. What made this case unusual was that the child was not from Malawi, she lived just across the border in Moatize District, Mozambique. This discovery set in motion a remarkable example of cross-border cooperation to protect communities from polio.

In 2025, Malawi undertook two major public health interventions to protect its population and strengthen health security. First, the Ministry of Health launched a nationwide HPV Multi-Age Cohort (MAC) campaign in October, targeting girls aged 9–18 years and transitioning to a one-dose schedule for 9-year-olds. This strategic move aimed to close coverage gaps and accelerate progress toward cervical cancer elimination.

Just three years ago, Malawi faced a daunting challenge. A wave of emergencies including COVID-19, cholera, cyclones, floods, and even a wild polio virus outbreak that strained the health system. Immunization rates dropped, and thousands of children missed critical vaccines. Behind these numbers were real stories, of fathers that are unaware of the importance of vaccines, and of cultural norms that hindered women from seeking health care services.

For years, Malawi’s Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) laboratory has served quietly but decisively as the national hub for confirming measles and rubella cases. Its work underpins the country’s immunization programme validating suspected outbreaks, guiding vaccination campaigns, and helping health teams distinguish local transmission from imported cases.

Blantyre—Around 1.3 million children in Malawi have been vaccinated against polio in a four-day campaign following the detection of a new circulating variant polio case in late January 2026. This variant polio case is the first reported in the country since 2022, when wild poliovirus — genetically linked to an outbreak in Pakistan — was confirmed in Malawi.

Achieving SGD3, Universal Health Coverage by 2030, and health security and PHC-oriented and resilient health systems hinges on the sufficient capacity of a well-trained and motivated health workforce to provide the essential health services at all levels of care. 

Malawi hosted a Measles-Rubella Vaccination After-Action Review (AAR) workshop in Salima, convening national and district health officials, the World Health Organization and other key stakeholders to reflect on the country's response to the recent measles outbreak and map a way forward.