Government could save at least K8 billion in health funds per year if people in the country started following basic principles of hygiene and sanitation, Minister of Health Peter Kumpalume has said.
Kumpalume said this in Chikwawa on Wedneday when he declared the area of Traditional Authority Mulilima open defecation free.
The development means at least 89 percent of communities in the area have access to improved toilets and hand washing facilities.
This development follows a Global Sanitation Fund programme on accelerated sanitation and hygiene practices being executed in the country’s six districts of Nkhotakota, Ntchisi, Balaka, Chikwawa, Phalombe and Rumphi by Plan Malawi.
According to Kumpalume, the cost of medicines used to treat diseases directly linked to poor hygiene is about 52 percent of Malawi’s total medicines budget.
This amount, he said, could be used to build and run hospitals in the country.
“As a country, we are losing a lot of money purchasing drugs for treating diseases which can otherwise be prevented by simply following basic principles of hygiene, such as making sure each and every household has a pit latrine and a hand washing facility,” he said.
He said government remains committed to ensure that Malawians have good sanitation facilities to prevent diseases which are directly linked to poor hygiene and in the long run save finances for other priority areas.
“This year alone Malawi recorded about 1,082 cases of Cholera which claimed at least 21 lives, this makes our resolve to enhance access to good sanitation facilities by Malawians even more pronounced than ever because we know these deaths could have been prevented if simple rules of hygiene were followed,” he said.
Alice Chapuma, who represented Plan Malawi’s country Director Lilly Omondi, said the hygiene programme being implemented by Development Aid from People to People (Dapp) in the district has reduced incidences of Cholera and diarrhoea.
“Research shows that people have changed their attitudes on hygiene in all the six districts it is being implemented such that cases of diarrhoea or any other diseases linked to poor hygiene have dramatically reduced,” she said.
The programme which started in 2010 was expected to end in December 2015 but has now been extended by another 18 months.
It aims at reducing open defecation, increase access to improve sanitation and ensure that people adopt safe hygiene practices. 1.5 million People in approximately 3,600 villages, 40 markets and 260 schools have benefitted from this programme
Leave a Reply