Hope for Lupus Africa, a Non-Governmental Organization called has urged government and other stakeholders to join and support in the fight against Lupus disease in the country.
In an interview with The Atlas Malawi, Hope for Lupus Africa Country Cordinator Florentine Kabefu said Malawi should emulate what other countries are doing.
Kabefu said it’s unfortunate that the majority of Malawians, including health personnel, are not aware of the disease resulting into many avoidable deaths.
“The current situation is very bad because as a country we don’t have medical equipment like testing materials among others, so naturally it takes a long time to be diagnosed thereby putting lives of Malawians at risk,” she said
Kabefu who also suffers from the disease, urged government and other stakeholders to consider buying equipment and make them available in all public hospitals, help to train more medical staff and again help in sensitization campaigns about disease.
According to Kabefu, Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks its own tissues, causing widespread inflammation and tissue damage in the affected organs. It can affect the joints, skin, brain, lungs, kidneys, and blood vessels.
The month of May every year is the Lupus awareness month as such Hope Lupus for Africa in Malawi has organized different activities to be held on 27th May at Bingu National Stadium.
On the day, Hope for Lupus Africa has organized Aerobics and during the exercises people will also be taught about the disease by a number of health prectitioners who will be available.
“People are going to exercise because with Lupus it’s very important that you are healthy and fit. During these exercises we’ve got healthy practitioners for example Dr. Lilian Chunda, Dr. Ngoma, Dr. Isaac Chirwa who will be explaining more about the disease, it’s symptoms, how you can take care of yourself and the challenges they are facing in treating patients that are suffering from the disease,” she said
Hope for Lupus Africa was established in the country in 2021 with the main purpose of sensitizing the public here in Malawi about the disease.
