Progress and slippage of sanitation and hygiene targets in Malawi: is SDG6.2 achievable?

Hinton, Rebekah Grace Kudakwashe and Tremblay-Lévesque, Laurent-Charles and Macleod, Christopher and Troldborg, Mads and Kanjaye, Modesta and Kalin, Robert (2024) Progress and slippage of sanitation and hygiene targets in Malawi: is SDG6.2 achievable? Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 14 (8). pp. 633-644. ISSN 2043-9083 (https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2024.263)

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Abstract

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 aims to achieve ‘access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defaecation’ by 2030. We present an in-depth investigation of sanitation and hygiene practices of 939 Malawian households in two districts, previously declared open defaecation-free (ODF). We evaluated whether ODF status was maintained by evaluating access to sanitation and hygiene. We found that 17% returned to open defaecation, and faeces were observed in around 10% of the households. We suggest that ODF status is not enough; work is required to maintain progress and consideration of construction quality is critical. Another barrier to SDG 6.2 was that only 7.9% of households had handwashing facilities with soap and water, with soap as a major limitation. However, most households (82%) had soap available for washing suggesting that soap is not being prioritised in handwashing.

ORCID iDs

Hinton, Rebekah Grace Kudakwashe ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5238-1405, Tremblay-Lévesque, Laurent-Charles, Macleod, Christopher, Troldborg, Mads, Kanjaye, Modesta and Kalin, Robert ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3768-3848;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)