Schools fail to open amid chicken pox outbreak

Some schools in the southern Malawian district of Neno have not opened for their first term following a chicken pox outbreak that has hit some areas in the district. Classes had not resumed for the new term following the chicken pox outbreak in the area. Moses Jumbe a teacher at Matope primary school said that District Education Manager for Neno Reuben Menyere has since advised the Primary Education Advisors for the area not to open the schools for the new term following the outbreak.

At least 90 cases of chicken pox have been reported at Matope while around 27 cases of the disease have been reported in Moffat Village some 18 kilometres from Matope where there are even more cases.

Neno District Hospital Public Relations officer Taonga Kasomekera could not be reached for details on the epidemic, however an official who was speaking out of the record said that there were more chicken pox cases in the lower part of the district, and the district did not currently have enough calamine lotion to treat the pox if it turned into an epidemic. (AfricaNews)