Cost of neglected priorities

Stop Avoidable Deaths

Our 58 relatives, parents, children and siblings would have been alive had we not neglected the raging cholera outbreak. Cholera is humiliating and mortifying. Here is the issue.

The Nation of August 25 exposed the worsening cholera outbreak nationwide. Quick facts showed that since March, nearly 12 districts have 1 500 cases, with over 500 in Blantyre alone.

There could be dozens of undocumented cholera cases fuelled by neglected water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) issues 58 years after Malawi’s Independence.

Here is why.

1.  Environmental mess

The collapsing environmental management systems are partly to blame.

For years, waste management and sanitation have been hot topics without real action to close the gaps.

After assuming power in 1964, founding president Kamuzu Banda emphasized on ensuring that everyone had food, shelter, and clothing.

Although wide highways were desirable, he knew that they were not enough to propel the country forward.

The takeaway is straightforward: If you ignore or fake your way past the basics, they will catch up with you and drag you down until you deal with them.

Ignoring environmental management, including Wash, is like rushing into marriage instead of spending more time to know your partner. The price is somewhat high.

2.  MW2063 derailed

Most upsetting is the fact that we are sacrificing potential contributors to our nation’s growth.

Intentionally causing people to die of preventable diseases will slow progress to achieve the Malawi 2063 long-term agenda.

According to the World Health Organisation, cholera is not just a question of life and death, but also an alarming sign of stagnant social progress and widening inequality. Inequity is lack of fairness or justice.

3.  Dying councils

Nearly all local councils in Malawi are in shambles and desperately need an overhaul. They keep abrogating their duties and the people in charge seem not ready to return to winning ways.

Looking at collapsing waste management, it appears most officials in local councils are just eager to get their salaries, but have given in  when it comes to delivering anything good for the people they claim to serve.

The council officials have a penchant for lavish vehicles, politics, corruption and personal aggrandizement. They no longer care about ‘the people’ and the touted reforms are not working at all.

4. Endless song

Next year, we will be back at the same place, lamenting cholera deaths.

One thing killing our country is we do not learn from fatalities.

Authorities know that people get cholera from eating contaminated food or drinking water, but do we currently have any strategies to permanently defeat this foe?

Hundreds of restaurants and street vendors keep selling potentially deadly food where they should not exist. ‘Thanks’ that when cholera hits you, the national response gets to life instantly.

But why aren’t local governments cracking down on unsafe food that is slowly killing people? 

Elsewhere, food safety is a serious issue and there are no shortcuts in food inspection.

As cholera keeps raging, what steps is the Ministry of Water and Sanitation taking to aid the public?

And while Wash and other environmental health fields require more, only decisive action by government agencies, councils and the citizenry will save us from these difficulties.

5.  Citizens role

And Malawians must learn to protect themselves from waterborne and sanitation-led infection.

There are times when we overdo the wrong things, expecting too much from government entities and tend.

The rule is simple: If we mess up, we have to bear the consequences.

So let us buckle up, stop the negligence and start taking sanitation and hygiene issues seriously.

It is funny that some of the people who grumbled when the government sought funding for the construction of toilets can’t even build a single toilet and deal with their own trash responsibly.

The money being invested in cholera response could have been used to procure other essentials for underfunded health facilities.

 Let us join hands to end cholera. Basics matter!