Free water tokens boost war on cholera

In February 2023, Malawi was grappling with a cholera outbreak which claimed 1 400 lives from over 42 427 patients.

The outbreak was growing every day, overwhelming the country’s health system.

Lack of access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene worsened the situation.

The rising death toll scared Gertrude Sichali Ng’oma, chairperson of Communal Water Point 13 Kamija in Nkhata Bay, one of the cholera hotspots.

The enemy was on the doorstep and the water kiosk was disconnected due to an outstanding bill of K132 000.

This forced her community to draw water from an unprotected well about two kilometres away.

As women passed by her homestead heading to the well, they cried out to her: “Please bail us out”.

“I felt helpless,” she says. “With the rising cholera cases, we knew that sooner or later, we could be hit as we were drinking from unprotected sources.

Then Sichali heard an announcement on the radio that the government had ordered water boards to reopen all kiosks to contain the country’s deadliest cholera outbreak.

She felt relieved as the kiosk leader, but the outstanding bills still bothered her. She feared that the bill would pile up beyond the community’s reach.

Sichali and her community were worried until the good news arrived that the Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) would clear their debt, reconnect them with a prepaid meter and give them free water tokens for six months from February to August 2023.

“Water board officials came to deliver the news, but it was like a dream. I doubted it was happening,” she recalls.

The dream came true a few days later when NRWB reconnected the kiosk and water started flowing.

Later, NRWB board chairperson Frank Tumpale Mwenifumbo and Nkhata Bay district commissioner Rodgers Newa visited the kiosk to launch the free water tokens initiative for all communal water points in the Northern Region.

“We got our first two tokens for March and April 2023. It was unbelievable that our debt was also wiped out. All we had to do was go to the [NRWB] office to collect free tokens for the remaining months,” Sichali states.

NRWB chief executive officer Francis Munthali said the free water tokens were inspired by the Tithetse Cholera Campaign, a presidential initiative implemented by the Ministry of Water and Sanitation to close Wash gaps.

“We joined hands with government to reduce the impact and spread of cholera,” he says. “We came up with this initiative utilising part of the funds from the saved under the NRWB Water Efficiency project funded by the European Investment Bank [EIB].”

Munthali thanked the EIB for approving the request.

“It accelerated access to safe water by vulnerable and low-income communities and consequently reduced and contained the spread of cholera within our supply areas,” he says.

From Kamija to Chibavi in Mzuzu and Mwanganda kiosk in Karonga District, 400 kiosks received free water tokens and transitioned to the prepaid metering system that empowers them to prudently manage their water usage.

NRWB also reconnected over 90 public secondary and primary schools that were either disconnected or struggling to pay their bills.

Mzuzu City Council deputy director of health Mavuto Lupwayi says the initiative was a game changer in the fight against cholera.

“In the city, we have several vulnerable communities that lack access to potable water. So, this intervention helped us contain cholera. We didn’t have many cases,” he states.

Apart from the free tokens and debt cancellation, the initiative trained members of communal water points on how to sustain water supply beyond the bailout period.

Six months after the initiative, almost all kiosks remain connected as members buy water tokens on their own.

“We engaged and trained them to use this period of free access to water to plan for payments after the six-month initiative,” Munthali says.

At Kamija, Sichali feels relieved as the communal water point is still working.

“I am happy. The free period gave us time to plan for life after the initiative. Now we have put in place measures to ensure we don’t get disconnected again. I am happy that through this initiative our area was spared of cholera,” she says with a smile.