One villager, Moses Kathumba, has told Zodiak Online Friday that the infestation of the bedbugs has reached the extent of forcing people sleep outside their houses.

“It is that bad. The situation is unbearable,” Kathumba said.

He says it is now six months since the community has been fighting the bedbugs but in vain.

“We reported the issue to some health authorities. They only advised us to buy recommended chemicals to apply in our homes. But here we are,” he said.

Spokesperson for the district health office in Phalombe, Daniel Chilomo, has confirmed the bedbug outbreak.

He said the only action by the health office is to advise people to buy chemicals on their own and spray their homes.

“The ministry does not have capacity to buy pesticides and distribute to the communities. This is our challenge,” Chilomo told Zodiak Online.

Bedbugs survive in wall cracks and other dark places in homes and feed on mammal blood including that of humans.