Minister responsible Abida Mia has attributed the challenges to inadequate financial and human resources.

He said as short-term solutions the ministry is planning to establish a stand-alone department, revise the National Sanitation Policy and come up with a National Water and Sanitation Investment Programme Plan.

In light of this, the minister has called upon water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) stakeholders to hold hands in supporting the sector to make sure that there is safe water for all people in the country.

“The donors are very important for us as you know they do a lot of work in the rural areas, so the discussion was to let them know how we will move forward so that we guide them to know the gaps that we have in WASH sector,” she told a stakeholder meeting in Lilongwe on Tuesday.

She added that with regard to cholera, some donors are in Tukombo, Nkhata Bay, to help improve access to water and sanitation and also provided fuel for essential services.

Tukumbo is the area worst hit by the current cholera epidemic in Malawi.

Kate Harawa, Director of Influence and Scale at Water for People said development partners meeting was important in improving the provision of quality water to people as it helped to figure a needs map.

She assured the ministry that her organization will continue assisting the government in addressing water and sanitation challenges in the country.

“We are already addressing some of the challenges, but now that we have the political will, we’ll support the planning in terms of coordination… and we will be part of the process,” she added.

According to a latest report on water and sanitation, two cyclones that hit the country early this year led to a drop in access to clean water and sanitation by 21% from 88% in 2020 to an estimate of 67 % this year.

(By Annes Mwale -ZBS)