Mzimba chiefs engaged in open defecation fight
World Vision Malawi has engaged traditional leaders in Mzimba District in the fight against open defecation.
Programme manager for Mutendere Area Development Programme (ADP) in the area of Paramount Chief M’mbelwa, Khephas Mtambo, said the district is not doing well in terms of Water Sanitation Hygiene (Wash) programmes because, among other reasons, many people do use toilets.
He said research has shown that most households in Mzimba do not have pit-latrines and relieve themselves in the nearby bushes.
He said: “We have had some challenges in the implementation of programmes such as the Water and Sanitation Hygiene (Wash) because traditional leaders have not been at the fore-front of encouraging their subjects to have pit-latrines.”
He said there is still a long way to go before the problem of open defecation ends in Mzimba.
Meanwhile, the organisation has drilled about 246 boreholes and rehabilitated non-functional boreholes within Manyamula catchment area in Mzimba in the past three years.
