Malawi faces a race against time to achieve water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) targets under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to funding gaps as it faces a deficit of K140 billion annually.
Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Mia said on Friday the country needs to invest $238 million (about K240 billion) per year in Wash to achieve SDGs by 2030.
However, the sector currently has a budget of about $100 million (about K102 billion) annually.
The minister this in Lilongwe during the launch of the 20 million pound WaterAid Country Programme Strategy for 2023 to 2028.
Mia said financing for Wash is a big challenge and appealed to stakeholders to mobilise resources and properly utilise the resources if the country is to achieve the 2030 targets.
She said: “A huge investment in Wash is required and is estimated to be in excess of $200 million to meet the SDG target of universal access to Wash in Malawi.
“All stakeholders must, therefore, work together to meet the universal target.”
Mia commended WaterAid for investing in Wash to ensure that people have access to safe water but also sanitation and hygiene services.
Water Aid country director Mercy Masoo agreed with the minister, saying financing is the biggest challenge facing the sector.
She said the strategy that WaterAid has put in place aims at rallying various stakeholders to raise resources for the sector.
Said Masoo: “The first area we are focussing on is improving Wash for public health. We will be targeting improving Wash in health care facilities. We will be working on accelerating access to hygiene for Malawians.
“The second area we will be modelling for universal access, that is achieving universal access to water sanitation and hygiene in Malawi.”
Statistics show that 30 percent of the country’s population does not have access to basic water, 60 percent does not have access to improved sanitation, four percent still practise open defaecation and 91.7 percent of the population does not use soap and water for hand washing.
The funding gaps come against the background of State-owned utilities raising water tariffs by an average of 50 percent in June on the back of the country’s deadliest cholera wave, which claimed more than 1 760 lives from about 60 000 patients in 16 months last year.
The tariffs were conceived to save the utilities from collapsing under surging production costs, but household austerities are driving low-income earners to a risky low.
The unaffordable tariffs could be a pothole in the national race to provide safe Wash for all by 2030 in line with SDG Six.
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