Poor Sanitation Accounts for 52% of Disease Burden In Malawi

Poor sanitation accounts for 52% of the total disease burden in Malawi, with diarrhoea alone accounting for 7% of deaths in children under the age of five, latest statistics from Global Water Partnership have shown. An official from the Ministry of Water and Sanitation, Joseph Magwira, has called on stakeholders in the water sector to scale up efforts to resolve water and sanitation challenges and ensure Malawi moves toward meeting the sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6), which covers water and sanitation, by 2030.

A recent assessment found that 87.9% of the population has access to improved sources of drinking water. Despite strides in improving availability of safe water, about 27% of the population walk for over an hour to access safe water. On sanitation, the assessment found that 80% of the population in Malawi uses improved sanitation facilities, Magwira said.

Global Water Partnership-Malawi National Coordinator, Deborah Muheka, said climate change and natural disasters pose a serious threat to Malawi's push for SDG 6 attainment.