Nkhata Bay District health authorities have declared four of the district’s 18 traditional authorities (T/As) open-defaecation free (ODF), symbolising a community where people have transitioned from defaecating in the open.
The district’s environmental health officer Wilson Kamanga said this on Saturday when he responded to questions posed by children during a Community Children’s Parliament in the district.
World Vision Malawi organised the Children’s Parliament at Sanga in the district aimed at giving children a platform to express challenges they face.
Kamanga said the four T/As are Malenga Mzoma, Fukamapiri, Sub-T/A Mndola and Senior Chief Mankhambira.
He said they engaged the 18 T/As to attain ODF status but only four complied with necessary requirements that include building hygienic toilets in their communities.
Said Kamanga: “These chiefs constructed life-saving toilets as part of a water, sanitation and hygiene [Wash] project implemented by the Northern Region Water Board [NRWB] in partnership with the district council and World Vision to tackle cholera disease.
“It is collaboration between village development committees, local leaders and
health officials who inspect households, making sure they have toilets.”
He said the council is committed to making the district achieve ODF as they are engaging the remaining 14 traditional leaders.
World Vision Nkhata Bay district programmes manager Limbani Gondwe said in an interview that they worked with T/A Mankhambira to achieve ODF.
She said: “We stopped our Wash project in the district the time NRWB joined with similar interventions. We gave them space to avoid duplication of projects.
“But, still, we managed to accomplish our mission with T/A Mankhambira to build modern sanitary toilets in his area.”
Under Nkhata Bay Town Water Supply and Sanitation project, NRWB supported about 23 000 community members with the Community-led Total Sanitation approach to tackle open defaecation.
