Malawi has launched a large-scale polio vaccination campaign after declaring a new outbreak when poliovirus was detected in sewage samples in Blantyre, according to The Guardian. The Guardian reports the only confirmed case cited is a seven-year-old boy in Blantyre, and that the World Health Organization airlifted emergency supplies as health authorities vaccinated about 1.3 million children in four days, alongside efforts to counter misinformation and vaccine hesitancy and warnings about donor funding pressure on health services.
In regional diplomacy, South Africa is hosting a joint Southern African Development Community meeting of Ministers of Health and ministers responsible for HIV and AIDS from February 23 to 24, 2026, to review progress on regional commitments and strengthen collaboration on shared public health threats, according to the South African Government. The South African Government says the agenda includes the region’s burden of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, rising non-communicable diseases, and climate-related health risks, including waterborne diseases such as cholera.