Rescue efforts continue after Cyclone Freddy devastated Malawi’s southern region in March. According to a draft assessment from Malaria’s Department of Disaster Management Affairs, Cyclone Freddy affected more than 2.2 million people, with 676 people killed, and more than 659,000 displaced. An additional 533 people are still missing.
Climate-related disasters such as the cyclone that hit Malawi are becoming increasingly common and destructive. The country was also hit with Cyclone Ana in 2022 and Idai in 2019. In addition to destroying homes and livelihoods, disasters increase the risk of communicable diseases such as malaria. Severe weather disrupts programs designed to prevent and treat malaria, storms can wash away or damage people’s nets, and flooding and stagnant water make it easier for malaria-carrying mosquitoes to breed and spread disease.
To protect survivors, especially pregnant women and children, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), led by USAID and co-implemented with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has helped distribute 14,500 insecticide-treated bed nets to health facilities and households in 12 of the most affected districts: Blantyre, Chikwawa, Nsanje, Thyolo, Zomba, Balaka, Chiradzulu, Machinga, Mangochi, Mulanje, Neno, and Phalombe.
Through the USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program–Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM), PMI worked in partnership with the Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to help identify affected areas, figure out how many nets were needed, prepare a distribution plan, and deliver the nets to these areas. PMI supplied 70 percent of the nets distributed to survivors.
Thanks to the generosity of the American people, PMI continues to help communities in Malawi defend themselves from malaria, offering hope even in the face of disaster.
Cover photo: PMI’s insecticide-treated nets being delivered at Chikwawa District Health Office. Photo credit: GHSC-PSM.