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Malawi WASH Overview

Despite the challenges, Malawi has made impressive progress on water supply coverage both in rural and urban areas since 1990 and surpassed the MDG target on water supply for 2015 with a national coverage of 85%. There is also an increased focus in urban water supply and sanitation for low income areas and the urban poor, with some INGOs such as WaterAid, Plan and Water for People targeting major cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu, with support from different donors. Nevertheless this massive progress masks inequitable coverage and high non-functionality of water points estimated at 25% for rural areas while in urban areas water supply is often intermittent and unreliable due to operational inefficiencies of service providers and high levels of non-revenue water.

Progress on sanitation has been remarkably slow. Access to improved sanitation is estimated at only 10% and basic sanitation estimated at 88%. However, significant progress has been made in reducing open defecation from 29% in 1990 to 7% in 2012. This is largely attributed to the implementation of the Open Defecation Free Strategy.

Connection of piped sewerage system to wastewater treatment plants in urban areas is at 10% in Blantyre and 20% in Lilongwe. Studies show that only 37% of the population practice good hygiene while only 4% of schools in Malawi provide hand washing facilities with soap. Sanitation in public institutions like markets and health facilities is poorly managed due to poor regulation and monitoring systems in local councils.

Whilst there has been achievements in improving WASH, inequalities in accessing these services still exist. Some geographical areas have poor WASH access levels either because they are hard to reach or due to political marginalization. In many cases, WASH facilities provided in public places such as schools, health facilities and market centres are not appropriate for people with different access needs, e.g persons with disabilities, women and girls, the elderly and pregnant mothers. The cost of items £50 could build a decent household toilet in Malawi. £44 could train a committee to manage their water point in Malawi. £76 could teach school children about hygiene in Malawi (Hand-washing could reduce the risk of diarrhoea by nearly 50%) £83 could put on a hygiene promotion drama in Malawi. Hygiene promotion is the most cost effective health intervention according to the World Bank £250 could install a well and rope pump for 120 people in Malawi.