Collins Mitambo

Ministry of Health, Malawi · Research

Malawi experienced its deadliest cholera outbreak in 2022, reporting over 50,000 cases and more than 1,700 deaths, resulting in a case fatality rate of 3.1%. The outbreak was exacerbated by the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclones Freddy, Ana, and Gombe, which strained healthcare resources. Despite the severity of the outbreak, no real-time eval...

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs optimize use of antimicrobi-als and reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This study evaluated implementation of AMS programs in Africa using a harmonized regional approach. Methods: This was an exploratory cross-sectional study across five countries involving 32 hospitals using adapted Periodic...

Irrigation farming has raised concerns about the steady transmission and introduction of new vector-borne infectious diseases (VBD) in the areas involved. This systematic review aimed to determine interventions that are effective for the management and control of VBDs in irrigation areas in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We searched the literature on VB...

The threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Malawi is high with reported mortality of 19,300 annually, the 23rd highest age-standardised mortality. One of the drivers of AMR is misuse of antibiotics, a phenomenon that has not been adequately researched in Malawi. This study aims to investigate antimicrobial use using health facility, prescribin...

Introduction Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is largely driven by the inappropriate use of antibiotics. This has been attributed to the non-prescription sale of antibiotics in retail drug outlets. Despite the rising number of retail drug outlets in Malawi, the practice of drug dispensing in private pharmacies has not been evaluated. This study there...

Policy and decision-makers are increasingly interacting with complex science as the momentum for evidence-informed decision-making grows. Unfortunately, often, the decision-makers have not been equipped optimally for this interaction, and so may not understand, communicate, or use the data and information appropriately, or at all. This leads to mis...

Background and Aims Hepatitis B (HBV) poses a significant public health challenge in Malawi, particularly among healthcare workers. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of HBV infection among healthcare workers in Salima District, Malawi, and assess the severity of positive cases. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in September...

Background Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) has been successfully implemented across Malawi, yet trends in admissions, characteristics, and treatment outcomes in children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) have not been examined. The objective was therefore to investigate trends in admissions, characteristics including perc...

Introduction The threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Malawi is high with reported mortality of 19,300 annually, the 23rd highest age-standardised mortality. One of the drivers of AMR is misuse of antibiotics, a phenomenon that has not been adequately researched in Malawi. This study aims to investigate antimicrobial use patterns using presc...

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) poses a significant global threat. World Health Oorganisation (WHO) estimates that over 5 million death globally are attributable to or associated with AMR (1). In Malawi, AMR related death are about 19,300 annually (2). If left unaddressed, WHO predicts a global annual mortality rate of 10 million by 2050. To address...

The threat of AMR in Malawi is high with reported mortality of 19,300 annually, the 23rd highest age-standadised mortality rate per 100,000 population (1). Unfortunately, drivers of AMR such as irrational antimicrobial use are not well elucidated. Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM), a faith-based organization operating 194 health facili...

Background: With the number of antimicrobials available to effectively treat gonorrhoea rapidly diminishing, surveillance of antimicrobial–resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) is critical for global public health security activity. Many low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) have gaps in their existing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) survei...

Vaccination is one of the essential measures in reducing transmission, morbidity, and mortality rates of a disease. However, the COVID-19 vaccination is facing hesitancy across the globe, Malawi included. A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Malawi to document knowledge, attitudes, and practices on COVID-19 vaccination. The stu...

Background Malaria remains a public health problem in Malawi and has a serious socio-economic impact on the population. In the past two decades, available malaria control measures have been substantially scaled up, such as insecticide-treated bed nets, artemisinin-based combination therapies, and, more recently, the introduction of the malaria vacc...

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is responsible for many childhood cancers in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is linked to recurrent or chronic infection by Epstein-Barr virus or Plasmodium falciparum. However, whether human leukocyte antigen (HLA) polymorphisms, which regulate immune response, are associated with BL has not been well investigated, which limits...

In high-income countries, mosaic chromosomal alterations in peripheral blood leukocytes are associated with an elevated risk of adverse health outcomes, including hematologic malignancies. We investigate mosaic chromosomal alterations in sub-Saharan Africa among 931 children with Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive lymphoma commonly characterized by im...

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive B‐cell lymphoma that significantly contributes to childhood cancer burden in sub‐Saharan Africa. Plasmodium falciparum, which causes malaria, is geographically associated with BL, but the evidence remains insufficient for causal inference. Inference could be strengthened by demonstrating that mendelian genes k...

Background Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) has been successfully implemented across Malawi, yet trends in admissions, characteristics, and treatment outcomes in children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) have not been examined. The objective was therefore to investigate trends in admissions, characteristics including perc...

Since early 2022, in the aftermath of two extreme weather events, Malawi experienced its largest ever cholera outbreak, with over 58,000 reported cases and 1,761 deaths as of May 2023. We generated 49 high-quality, near-complete Vibrio cholerae genomes in Malawi from isolates collected between December 2022 and March 2023 from all three regions of...

Interferon lambda 4 (IFN-l4) is a novel type-III interferon that can be expressed only by carriers of the genetic variant rs368234815-dG within the first exon of the IFNL4 gene. Genetic inability to produce IFN-l4 (in carriers of the rs368234815-TT/TT genotype) has been associated with improved clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The IF...

Background Malaria remains a public health problem in Malawi and has a serious socio-economic impact on the population. In the past two decades, available malaria control measures have been substantially scaled up, such as insecticide-treated bed nets, artemisinin-based combination therapies, and, more recently, the introduction of the malaria vacc...

Background The roles and functionality of technical working groups (TWGs) in the health sectors vary across countries, still they aim to support government and ministries in formulating evidence-informed recommendations for policies and facilitate dialogue and alignment of activities among stakeholders within the health sector. Thus, TWGs have a ro...

Background: The knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of people during the coronavirus pandemic are pivotal to the uptake of recommended preventative strategies. Objective: This paper describes the Malawian KAP related to coronavirus and associated public health measures. Methods: This was a multi-site cross-sectional survey where data was...

Background: Malawi's National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) is developing a new strategic plan for 2023-2030 to combat malaria and recognizes that a blanket approach to malaria interventions is no longer feasible. To inform this new strategy, the NMCP set up a task force comprising 18 members from various sectors, which convened a meeting to str...

Equitable access and utilization of the COVID-19 vaccine is the main exit strategy from the pandemic. This paper used proceedings from the Second Extraordinary Think-Tank conference, which was held by the Health Economics and Policy Unit at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in collaboration with the Malawi Ministry of Health, complemented by...

Background: The B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in the fourth COVID-19 pandemic wave across the southern African region, including Malawi. The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and their association with epidemiological trends of hospitalisations and deaths are needed to...

Background: Owing to their detachment from urban areas, people living in rural areas of Malawi are on the receiving end of health services and socio-economic benefits. The study therefore explored how Malawians living in these areas are adhering to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) containment measures and the factors that affect the COVID-19 fi...

Objectives A country’s immunization system's effectiveness depends on its supply chain's efficacy. To assess the challenges of maintaining an efficient vaccine supply chain, Malawi conducted its assessment using The EVM2.0 tool (Effective Vaccine Management). Methods It is a cross-sectional study in which all EVM requirements were assessed between...

Background. The B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in the fourth COVID-19 pandemic wave across the southern African region, including Malawi. The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and their association with epidemiological trends of hospitalisations and deaths are needed to...

Objectives To establish the impact of “Covid-19 Vaccination express” (CVE) on vaccine uptake in Malawi Design Retrospective cross-sectional study to compare the daily vaccine administration rate in CVE and routine covid vaccination (RCV). RCV data was collected from March 2021 to October 2021. The data regarding CVE was collected from 5 November 2...

Background Global experts estimate that in the absence of intervention, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will result into 40 million deaths globally and this burden is likely to be more pronounced in low-income settings. The knowledge, attitudes and practices of people during this pandemic is pivotal to uptake of recommended preventative strateg...

Background The roles and functionality of Technical Working Groups (TWGs) in the health sectors varies across countries, but they generally aim to support government and ministries in formulating evidence informed recommendations for policies and facilitate dialogue and alignment of activities among stakeholders within the health sector. Thus, TWG’...

The Malawi College of Medicine and its partners are building non-communicable diseases’ (NCDs’) research capacity through a grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. Several strategies are being implemented including research mentorship for junior researchers interested to build careers in...

Objective The aim of this study was to characterize Covid-19 cases and explore risk factors associated with mortality among hypertensive patients with COVID-19 country-wide. Methods We used a retrospective case control study design to provide a detailed account of cases and explore risk factors associated with mortality among hypertensive patients...

Malawi declared a state of national disaster due to the COVID-19 pandemic on 20th March 2020 and registered its first confirmed coronavirus case on the 2 April 2020. The aim of this paper was to document policy decisions made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic from January to August 2020. We reviewed policy documents from the Public Health Instit...

Background: Endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL) is the most common childhood cancer in Africa and is linked to Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria infection, one of the most common and deadly childhood infections in Africa; however, the role of Pf genetic diversity is unclear. A potential role of Pf genetic diversity in eBL has been suggested by a corre...

Africa is experiencing an increasing prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCD). However, few reliable data are available on their true burden, main risk factors, and economic impact that are needed to inform implementation of evidence-based interventions in the local context. In Malawi, a number of initiatives have begun addressing the NCD chall...

Background Viral hepatitis is an important public health issue in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to rising mortality from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and limited implementation of screening and treatment programmes, it has been characterised as a neglected tropical disease. Synthesis of the existing evidence on the epidemiology of viral hepatit...

With the support of the World Health Organization’s Evidence-Informed Policy Network, knowledge translation platforms have been developed throughout Africa, the Americas, Eastern Europe, and Asia to further evidence-informed national health policy. In this commentary, we discuss the approaches, activities and early lessons learned from the developm...