Nthanda Times

Peter Ngwenyama

  • MBS certifies 59 companies, institutions in Central Region

    Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) has awarded quality certificates to 59 companies and institutions in the Central Region for demonstrating consistent compliance of various standards of products.

    MBS Director of Metrology Services, Thom Senganimalunje, said during the 2023 MBS Awards of permits, designation and management systems certificates programme in Lilongwe that the local certification scheme is the first step towards earning international recognition.

    “We need small and medium enterprises to prioritize quality of their products to reach that level,” he said.

    MBS awarding certificates of quality to companies and institutions

    Senganimalunje said when a product is certified by the MBS it means that there is safety for human consumption.

    MBS has awarded 178 companies with quality certificates in the country with 135 as new awardees while 43 are renewals.

    Linde Hotel was among the hospitality industry that was recognized by MBS. 

    The hotel’s marketing manager Ivy Chinkhuntha said MBS certification will enhance operations at the hotel.

    “This is an advantage to the hotel as most people would want to know the safety of what they are consuming from our place,” she said.

    Chinkhuntha said they have been always provide good quality services to their customers but the coming in of the certificate is a confirmation of their good products and services.

  • Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute cardiovascular specialists to camp at QECH

    A 10-member team of specialists in cardiovascular diseases from Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) in Tanzania will be in the country for a five-day health mission to address cardiovascular conditions from 20-25 March, 2023.

    Tanzania High Commissioner to Malawi, Humphrey Polepole, announced during a press conference in Lilongwe on Monday that the team will join the local medical team at the camp established at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre for free of charge for a one week period.

    “This is the first ever joint medical camp between the Institute and the hospital in order to reach out to Malawians with cardiovascular diseases,” he said.

    Polepole added that through the heath collaboration, they have a great interest to see health challenges no longer troubling people.

    Captured during the media briefing

    QECH Director Dr Samson Mndolo said the camp will save many lives as well as money to those who could not afford to go to India, South Africa and other countries to seek for cardiovascular treatment.

    “We are ready to host the camp so that many cardiovascular patients can be attended to during this period,” he said.

    Mndolo further said the joint medical team will be attending to 30 to 40 cardiovascular patients per day.

    According to him, Malawi has 448 cardiovascular patients on the waiting list for referral. The list dates back to 2016.

    Mndolo added that the camp will also prepare Malawi to have its own cardiovascular unit.

  • UNHCR hands over new classrooms to Dzaleka Secondary School

    United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), a UN refugee agency, has handed over four new, fully equipped classrooms in the Dzaleka Secondary School in Dowa.

    The classrooms were constructed with funding from the European Union (EU).

    UNHCR Representative Kouame Cyr Modeste commended EU for the support it has provided to enable refugees and the host community children to have access to education.

    “This is a milestone in advancing protection and empowerment of refugees and their host communities, as more children in the camp will now be able to enroll in the school,” she said

    Education Division Manager in the Ministry of Education, Billy Banda, expressed gratitude with the support from development partners in filling the gaps that the government cannot do due to resource constraints.

    UNHCR handing over school block to Ministry of education at Dzaleka camp

    “The statistics show many children are not able to enroll in school, so we need to ensure there are enough classrooms and provide them with quality education,” he said.

    However, each new classroom can accommodate up to 60 secondary school students, meaning that as many as 240 new students will now be able to enroll in the school.

    According to the agency, the classrooms are equipped with Wi-Fi connection, desks, seven toilets, and a changing room for girls, as well as 500 tablets for students.

    The new facilities will help ease overcrowding in the Dzaleka Secondary School, which serves not only refugees and asylum-seekers but also students from the host community.

  • Malawi Government launches $20m off-grid Market Development fund

    Malawi’s Ministry of Energy has launched the first-ever US$20 million off-grid Market Development fund dubbed Ngwe Ngwe Ngwe to increase access to electricity through off-grid solutions.

    World Bank is providing financial support to the fund, which will provide loans to eligible off-grid solar companies up to $14 million as working capital to expand the operations and speed up procurement, importation, and make installation of solar home systems that will be sold to rural Malawians at an affordable price.

    Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola said during the launch of the fund on Friday in Lilongwe that the fund will also give $5.5 million to provide end-user with subsidies to close the affordability gap of rural customers that cannot afford solar home systems at the current commercial prices.

    Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola (R) during the launch

    “The idea is to make these local off-grid solar companies grow to the extent of being able to access capital on the market for the expansion of their business and at the same time make electricity access in rural areas,” he said.

    Matola added that the fund will create a market catalyst fund of $500,000 to support small scale off grid market based transformative solutions to scale up the renewable energy transition.

    According to him, the off-grid component will add five percent to the national electrification rate currently at 18 percent with 11.4 percent from the national grid and 6.6 percent from off-grid solar solutions.

    World Bank Country Manager, Hugh Ridell assured Malawi of the bank’s commitment to ensuring access to electricity in rural areas.

    “The fund is part of a larger project to get households connected to off-grid solar solutions,” he said.

    Ridell added that the fund will be used by the private sector where more jobs will be created.

    Almost 200, 000 households in rural areas will be connected to off-grid solar by 2024.

  • TB fight not affected by cholera outbreak – NTLEP

    National TB and Leprosy Elimination Program (NTLEP) said efforts in fighting against tuberculosis (TB) have not been affected by the cholera outbreak.

    NTLEP program manager James Mpunga told Nthanda Times in an interview that there are the same health workers who carry the load of work in TB and other emergencies like cholera.

    “There is a shift of health workers whenever there is a pandemic or an epidemic but this has not affected the TB fight in the country,” he said.

    Mpunga said the program has not yet seen the negative impact as figures are still increasing interns of notifications and treatment outcomes are improving.

    Mpunga, National TB and Leprosy Elimination Program Programs Manager

    Blantyre District TB Officer Lameck Namuku Gama said, so far, the district case notification rate has not been affected by the cholera outbreak.

    “But the team including focal persons were overwhelmed as they were also looking after cholera patients,” he said.

    According to Gama there is a rise in TB cases in the district when comparing October to December 2021 to the same period October to December in 2022 from 87.2 percent to 99.6 percent.

    Blantyre District TB Officer Lameck Namuku Gama

    This has happened due to multiple interventions being done in the district to increase TB case finding such as use of fast promotors in seven high TB burden facilities and at the same time the use of hotspot volunteers in high volume TB locations and villages within the district, he said.

    Gama further said the district has two mobile diagnostic unit vans with sophisticated diagnostic equipment such as the digital x-ray and gene expert machines.

    Gama said: “The vans have helped in TB screening in the district both in the rural and urban areas. We have also 80 trained and active community sputum collection points with 10 volunteers in each committee who help in TB screening within the communities hence the increase in TB case findings in the district.”

    Blantyre is one of the districts which has recorded high cases of cholera.