Chichiri Prison has reported 61 confirmed cases of viral conjunctivitis also known as pink eye disease among the inmates, totaling 353 cases registered so far in Blantyre.
Chichiri Prison has reported 61 confirmed cases of viral conjunctivitis also known as pink eye disease among the inmates, totaling 353 cases registered so far in Blantyre.
Sign up for Nthanda Times
Top Stories Newsletter
Politics, education, health, and more—get the latest news that matters most to you.
Advertisement
protected by reCAPTCHA
Advertisement
This was disclosed on Friday in Blantyre during a community awareness meeting organised by the Blantyre District Health Office [DHO] at Chichiri Prison.
Speaking during the meeting, Blantyre DHO Health Promotion Officer, Chrissy Banda said it was worrisome that the disease was spreading very fast at the prison, appealing to its partners to support the prison in providing hand-washing facilities to ensure that the inmates wash their hands with soap and clean water regularly.
“As of yesterday, March 21, Blantyre DHO had cumulatively registered 353 cases of pink eye. These cases were reported from Chichiri Prison, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and other health facilities. However, efforts are being made to prevent further spread of the disease in the district.
Advertisement
“Currently, we are doing active surveillance of cases and disseminating messages through health workers in communities. Today, we are at Chichiri Prison and we are yet to solicit more support from partners to do similar awareness meetings in different places,” she said.
Banda speaking during community awareness meeting
Banda, therefore, advised the public to follow all the preventive measures that have been instituted to protect themselves from contracting the viral infection.
“The public is advised to avoid using unprescribed medications, herbs and other things, touching or rubbing eyes, sharing personal things like eye glasses and towels that can transmit the infection if used by an infected person and also avoid handshakes and overcrowded places to prevent transmitting the infection to others,” she said.
Advertisement
Banda also encouraged people to report to the nearest health facility for supportive treatment once they start experiencing signs and symptoms of the disease.
In his remarks, Chichiri Prison Assistant Superintendent, Thomas Katambo hailed Blantyre DHO for taking the messages on pink eye disease to the prison and also for rapid response after being notified of the disease outbreak.
Pink eye disease transmits rapidly due to poor hygiene and its symptoms include but not limited to eye itching and discharge.
To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.