WASH in health care facilities: reinforcing existing structures and best practices

Adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is essential for health care facilities (HCFs) around the world. The World Health Organization recently developed a tool to address these concerns, known as the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Facilities Improvement Tool (WASH FIT). Embangweni Mission Hospital in Northern Malawi started implementing the tool in July of 2017. The tool utilizes existing facilities and organizations for a comprehensive approach to WASH improvement. Therefore, appropriate foundations for successful implementation are important to recognize and foster. Existing facilities, committees, infrastructure and resourcefulness of staff have all meaningfully contributed to the unique implementation in Embangweni. The foundations from Embangweni can help provide insight to WASHFIT implementation in future locations

Faecal sludge management in peri-urban Malawi: investigating the policy gaps

Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) in peri-urban settlements of most developing countries has gained recent attention. This is due to rapid urbanisation resulting in the mushrooming of informal settlements and onsite household sanitation facilities where there is a lack of sewer systems. A number of initiatives aimed at improving FSM have been reported in South Africa, Uganda, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. Yet, the main focus in these countries has been emptying and disposal/treatment of faecal sludge. Little has been done on policy formulation to guide stakeholders on what should be done at each stage of the sanitation chain. This paper identifies the complementarities and antagonisms of existing pieces of legislation pulling lessons learned from other countries and how it applies to Malawi. The work also proposes Faecal Sludge Management Policy criteria for Mzuzu City Council in Northern Malawi and other similar situations worldwide