By: Lloyd M’bwana
Water Aid an international organization working in Malawi is urging the country’s leadership to quickly put outstanding strategies in order to improve sanitation and hygienic condition of people amid escalation of cholera case in some parts of the country.
The call comes amid revelation from WaterAid that about eight million Malawians are living in poor sanitation and hygienic condition with also three million people lack quality toilets especially in rural and semi-urban areas contributing to escalation of water borne diseases including cholera and diarrhea.
In an exclusive interview with The Maravi Post on Monday, evening March 21 on the eve of World Water Day which falls every March 22 every year, Mercy Masoo, WaterAid Country Representative emphasized the need for conservative effort from all stakeholders to come together with mechanism in bid to address poor sanitation and hygiene which are paramount to people’s health.
Masso disclosed that water crisis which contributes to poor sanitation and hygiene has hit hard public hospitals as are operating without proper connection to water facilities leading to frequent break out of water borne diseases which need to be controlled.
“There are about eight million people living poor sanitation and hygienic housing not only that but also three million Malawians don’t have proper toilets which means that they defecate everywhere which is health hazard to their lives. The problem has also spread to all part of the country particularly in rural and semi-urban areas. Even our public health facilities especially in rural areas are in poor sanitation conditions.
“Therefore, government must always put sustainable mechanism of making sure that people are able to access quality and potable water for their sanitation and hygienic condition as we commemorate this year’s World Water Day. Not only that citizens have also responsibility to make sure that water facilities are taken care of from vandalism”, urges Masoo.
This year’s World Water Day is commemorated towards the six goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target which strives to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing releasing of hazardous chemicals and materials halving the proportion on untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally by 2030.
WaterAid which was established in 1981 has been in Malawi since 2000 with programs to transform lives of the poorest and most marginalized people by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene whose operating districts includes Salima, Mzimba, Machinga, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, Karonga, Rumphi, Dowa, Balaka, Chikwawa and Lilongwe City.
