The country’s health care facilities are in dire need of basic water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) services, with only four percent of the facilities having basic sanitation services thus putting their very objective of disease prevention in jeopardy.
Unicef country representative Johannes Wedenig made the revelation in Lilongwe on Tuesday during the launch of the Joint Sector Review Workshop for the water and sanitation sector, calling for urgent action to improve the sitiation.
Wedenig, who was speaking on behalf of development partners in the country, said 96 percent of the country’s health facilities lack basic sanitation, 73 percent have no access to hygiene services while 24 percent have no access to basic water supply.
The situation also extends to schools, where he stated that close to half a million students have no access to basic water supply, over one million students lack access to basic sanitation and over four million students do not have access to basic hygiene services.
Said Wedenig: “Sanitation and hygiene remain under funded. We are encouraged by the stability of the Wash budget projected for 2025/26. But 85 percent of the sector’s funding still comes from external sources. This is not sustainable. Stronger financial resilience must be built within Malawi.”
He advised Wash stakeholders to harness innovation and partnerships across all stakeholders, including the private sector renewable energy experts, financing specialists, entrepreneurs and the civil society.
“In the year ahead, let’s define success by action. Let’s commit to updated policies and regulations for water, sanitation and hygiene. New cost effective climate resilient projects and increased sanitation budgets at national and district levels,” added Wedenig.
In her remarks, Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Mia acknowledged that there are serious challenges in the country’s Wash sector.
She said government still needs support from various stakeholders, including development partners, because the needs in the sector are so huge that government may not be able to deal with them alone.
Said Mia: “Demand for water, sanitation and hygiene services is ever increasing hence the glaring gaps. However, government still has projects aimed at addressing the challenges highlighted only that they are not sufficient.”
In an interview, Ministry of Water and Sanitation Principal Secretary Elias Chimulambe observed that besides inadequate funding, the poor access to Wash services is worsened by climate shocks such as floods and cyclones, which have severely disrupted infrastructure and led to regression in the sector.
Malawi has in recent years experienced outbreaks of diseases such as cholera.
