Adopt or Adapt: Sanitation Technology Choices in Urbanizing Malawi

Adopt or Adapt: Sanitation Technology Choices in Urbanizing Malawi. PLoS ONE 11(8): 2016.

• Full text, pdf

Authors: Richard M. Chunga1, Jeroen H. J. Ensink, Marion W. Jenkins, Joe Brown

This paper presents the results of a mixed-methods study examining adaptation strategies that property owners in low-income, rapidly urbanizing areas in Malawi adopt to address the limitations of pit latrines, the most common method of disposing human excreta. A particular challenge is lack of space for constructing new latrines as population density increases: traditional practice has been to cap full pits and simply move to a new site, but increasing demands on space require new approaches to extend the service life of latrines.

In this context, we collected data on sanitation technology choices from January to September 2013 through 48 in-depth interviews and a stated preference survey targeting 1,300 property owners from 27 low-income urban areas. Results showed that property owners with concern about space for replacing pit latrines were 1.8 times more likely to select pit emptying service over the construction of new pit latrines with a slab floor (p = 0.02) but there was no significant association between concern about space for replacing pit latrines and intention to adopt locally promoted, novel sanitation technology known as ecological sanitation (ecosan).

Property owners preferred to adapt existing, known technology by constructing
replacement pit latrines on old pit latrine locations, reducing the frequency of replacing pit latrines, or via emptying pit latrines when full.

This study highlights potential challenges to adoption of wholly new sanitation technologies, even when they present clear advantages to end users. To scale, alternative sanitation technologies for rapidly urbanising cities should offer clear advantages, be affordable, be easy to use when shared among multiple households, and their design should be informed by existing adaptation strategies and local knowledge.

Pit Latrine Fecal Sludge Resistance Using a Dynamic Cone Penetrometer in Low Income Areas in Mzuzu City, Malawi

Pit Latrine Fecal Sludge Resistance Using a Dynamic Cone Penetrometer in Low Income Areas in Mzuzu City, Malawi. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(2), 87; doi:10.3390/ijerph14020087

• Full text

Pit latrines can provide improved household sanitation, but without effective and inexpensive emptying options, they are often abandoned once full and may pose a public health threat.

Emptying techniques can be difficult, as the sludge contents of each pit latrine are different. The design of effective emptying techniques (e.g., pumps) is limited by a lack of data characterizing typical in situ latrine sludge resistance.

This investigation aimed to better understand the community education and technical engineering needs necessary to improve pit latrine management. In low income areas within Mzuzu city, Malawi, 300 pit latrines from three distinct areas were assessed using a dynamic cone penetrometer to quantify fecal sludge strength, and household members were surveyed to determine their knowledge of desludging procedures and practices likely to impact fecal sludge characteristics.

The results demonstrate that there is a significant difference in sludge strength between lined and unlined pits within a defined area, though sludge hardened with depth, regardless of the pit type or region. There was only limited association between cone penetration depth and household survey data.

To promote the adoption of pit emptying, it is recommended that households be provided with information that supports pit emptying, such as latrine construction designs, local pit emptying options, and cost.

This study indicates that the use of a penetrometer test in the field prior to pit latrine emptying may facilitate the selection of appropriate pit emptying technology.

Characterization of pit latrines to support design and selection of emptying tools in peri-urban Mzuzu, Malawi

Characterization of pit latrines to support design and selection of emptying tools in peri-urban Mzuzu, Malawi. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development | in press | 2017

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Authors: Rashid Chiposa, Rochelle H. Holm, Chimuleke Munthali, Russel C. G. Chidya and Francis L. de los Reyes III

The urban areas of many low-income countries must balance a rising demand for pit latrines for household sanitation provision against limitations in space, resulting in a need for pit latrine emptying services.

This study was undertaken in the peri-urban neighborhood of Area 1B in the city of Mzuzu, Malawi, to examine the characteristics of household pit latrines for designing and selecting pit latrine emptying tools. We used 150 structured household surveys and field observations. From this, a subset was selected and 30 manual cone penetrometer tests were conducted at full latrines. Chemical oxygen demand analysis was also performed at 14 pit latrines.

The results indicated that in addition to serving as a disposal for fecal matter, 90% of households also used pit latrines for domestic waste. Only 10% of the studied pit latrines were lined. The filling rate in the study area is calculated to be about three years, and no respondents reported previous emptying.

It is suggested pit latrine emptying technology development focuses on a maximum tool diameter of 10 cm to fit through the keyhole (squat hole) and height of 146 cm to fit inside the superstructure, as well as supporting unlined pits and the ability to pump trash.

Adopt or Adapt: Sanitation Technology Choices in Urbanizing Malawi

Adopt or Adapt: Sanitation Technology Choices in Urbanizing Malawi | PloS One, Aug 2016.

• Full text

Authors: Richard M. Chunga , Jeroen H. J. Ensink, Marion W. Jenkins, Joe Brown

This paper presents the results of a mixed-methods study examining adaptation strategies that property owners in low-income, rapidly urbanizing areas in Malawi adopt to address the limitations of pit latrines, the most common method of disposing human excreta.

A particular challenge is lack of space for constructing new latrines as population density increases: traditional practice has been to cap full pits and simply move to a new site, but increasing demands on space require new approaches to extend the service life of latrines.

In this context, we collected data on sanitation technology choices from January to September 2013 through 48 in-depth interviews and a stated preference survey targeting 1,300 property owners from 27 low-income urban areas.

Results showed that property owners with concern about space for replacing pit latrines were 1.8 times more likely to select pit emptying service over the construction of new pit latrines with a slab floor (p = 0.02) but there was no significant association between concern about space for replacing pit latrines and intention to adopt locally promoted, novel sanitation technology known as ecological sanitation (ecosan).

Property owners preferred to adapt existing, known technology by constructing replacement pit latrines on old pit latrine locations, reducing the frequency of replacing pit latrines, or via emptying pit latrines when full.

This study highlights potential challenges to adoption of wholly new sanitation technologies, even when they present clear advantages to end users.

To scale, alternative sanitation technologies for rapidly urbanising cities should offer clear advantages, be affordable, be easy to use when shared among multiple households, and their design should be informed by existing adaptation strategies and local knowledge.

UNC and P&G to Provide First Analysis of Environmental Health in Malawi Hospitals

UNC and P&G to Provide First Analysis of Environmental Health in Malawi Hospitals | Source: UNC News, May 15 2016 |

Millions of Malawians seek medical care in the country’s health care facilities each year. Yet, an analysis of the environmental health status in these facilities has never been performed. This summer, baseline measurements will be collected thanks to a partnership between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Procter & Gamble (P&G) through the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW).

Patients being cared for at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Malawi.

“Health facilities should not be places to acquire infection due to lack of clean water, hygiene and sanitation; they should be places for cure,” says Innocent Mofolo, associate country director of UNC Project-Malawi. “WaSH should be part of an integrated approach to health and human development. This assessment will help determine WaSH gaps that exist in most of our health facilities and devise strategies to improve the situation.”

The assessment of 45 health facilities in the northern, central and southern regions of Malawi is being funded by a generous donation from P&G. Data collection will begin in August by researchers from the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and its UNC Project in Malawi and the Water Institute at UNC.

Read the complete article.

 

VIA Water second faecal sludge webinar report

Which technical options are available for the reuse of faecal sludge? Report of a VIA Water webinar led by Jan Spit.

© S. Blume/SuSanA Secretariat

Report on the webinar: read the questions that were asked before and during the webinar, and Jan Spit’s answers to them:

• I would be interested to look into economic and policy part of this treatment process.​​
  This is a very general question. On anaerobic digestion, an interesting approach has been published on the economic aspects: “Feasibility assessment tool for urban anaerobic digestion in developing countries”, see: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479713002727
  As far as the policy part is concerned, read for instance: “Institutional Frameworks for Faecal Sludge Management” in “Faecal Sludge Management Systems Approach for Implementation and Operation”, see: http://www.unesco-ihe.org/sites/default/files/fsm_book_lr.pdf
• Application to slum areas (together with simplified sewerage systems).
  As far as simplified sewerage is concerned, see: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/1994/05/439130/simplified-sewerage-design-guidelines and: http://www.sswm.info/content/simplified-and-condominal-sewers
• Can you tell me some opportunities (tenders/call for proposals/donors) to finance septage treatment facilities (mainly the construction of septage treatment plant and the reuse of sludge (energy/biogas) and dry bio-solid as a fertilizer?
  ​Some funding opportunities in the Netherlands are:

1. D2B: http://english.rvo.nl/subsidies-programmes/develop2build-d2b
2. DRIVE: http://english.rvo.nl/subsidies-programmes/development-related-infrastructure-investment-vehicle-drive

In Germany: KfW: https://www.kfw.de/International-financing/. For innovative funding, look at: http://www.traidwheel.nl/appropriate-finance/Innovative-financing-mechanisms

Sanitation in Malawi – SHARE project and CCODE work

Published on Sep 2, 2014

The video features the work of CCODE and the Federation of the Rural and Urban Poor in Blantyre, framed on the SHARE (Sanitation and Hygiene Applied for Equity) research project, as well as the challenges that the country faces in terms of sanitation, water and hygiene.

SHARE’s work to date in Malawi has focused on Ecological Sanitation (Ecosan), which has been heavily promoted in urban areas. Blantyre in Malawi is also one of the cities included in the City-Wide Sanitation Project.

For more information about the work of CCODE and the Federation of the Rural and Urban Poor visit http://www.ccodemw.org/.

For further info about SHARE visit http://www.shareresearch.org

IIED presents SHARE-funded City-Wide Sanitation Project findings

May 6, 2014 – IIED presents SHARE-funded City-Wide Sanitation Project findings at the 11th International Conference on Urban Health at the University of Manchester | Source: SHARE website

SHARE partner IIED presented its findings on the challenges and opportunities of different models for improving sanitation in deprived communities at the 11th International Conference on Urban Health at the University of Manchester. 

The work presented was published last year in a paper entitled “Overcoming obstacles to community-driven sanitary improvement in deprived urban neighbourhoods: lessons from practice”. Sanitary improvement has historically been central to urban health improvement efforts. Low cost sanitation systems almost inevitably require some level of community management, and in deprived urban settlements there are good reasons for favouring community-led sanitary improvement.

• Read the situational analyses for Blantyre (Malawi), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Kitwe (Zambia), and Chinhoyi (Zimbabwe) 
• Read the country specific policy briefs documenting the first year of the SHARE-funded City-Wide Sanitation Project

It has been argued that community-led sanitary improvement also faces serious challenges, including those of getting local residents to act collectively, getting the appropriate public agencies to co-produce the improvements, finding improvements that are acceptable and affordable at scale, and preventing institutional problems outside of the water and sanitation sector (such as tenure or landlord-tenant problems) from undermining improvement efforts. This paper examines these sanitary challenges in selected cities where organizations of the urban poor are actively trying to step up their work on sanitary issues, and considers they can best be addressed. 

How to Trigger for Handwashing with Soap

How to Trigger for Handwashing with Soap.  Frontiers of CLTS:  Innovations and Insights, Issue 02, January 2014.

• Full text, pdf

Author: Jolly Ann Maulit for UNICEF Malawi 

The Open Defecation Free (ODF) Malawi 2015 Strategy and National Hand Washing Campaign have been contributing to an increased focus on handwashing with soap (HWWS) in Malawi. This is a very positive development!

Some studies estimate that washing hands with soap can reduce diarrhoeal disease rates by up to 50 per cent and respiratory disease rates by up to 25 per cent. This makes handwashing with soap one of the most cost-effective interventions for reducing illness and preventable deaths among children in Malawi. It is therefore quite worthwhile for us to be working together to increase handwashing practices.

Since Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is our key intervention for sanitation and hygiene promotion in Malawi, it provides an excellent opportunity to facilitate handwashing behaviour change. However, up till now, the ‘triggering tools’ for achieving HWWS behaviour change from CLTS have not been well known by implementers in Malawi. The purpose of this document is to outline several practical tools which can be used as a part of CLTS in order to trigger realisation among communities of the importance of handwashing with soap, as well as eliminating open defecation.

 

 

 

Global Sanitation Fund in Malawi

Global Sanitation Fund in Malawi, by Rochelle Holm, Ph.D., PMP, Mzuzu University, Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation and SMART Centre Manager. Email: rochelledh@hotmail.com.

• Global Sanitation Fund in Malawi Website

The Global Sanitation Fund programme in Malawi is aimed at implementing sanitation and hygiene initiatives that will help the Government of Malawi to attain its vision of ensuring Sanitation for All in the country and its mission of ensuring that all Malawians access improved sanitation facilities, practice safe hygiene and re-use or recycle waste for the sustainable management of the environment and socio-economic development.  

The programme will help in reducing Malawi’s open defecation which the JMP 2013 Update (World Health Organization and UNICEF) estimates to stand at 7% in 2011. This reduction in open defecation will be achieved through:

• triggering 3,600 villages and 274 schools in the six districts using Community Led Total Sanitation and School Led Total Sanitation approaches, respectively, and promoting the adoption of improved sanitation and hygiene practices;
• conducting sanitation marketing in support of the triggering;
• developing the capacity of government, civil society organizations and private sector actors in hygiene and sanitation promotion;
• supporting the planning and implementation of sanitation and hygiene activities at district level;
• documenting lessons learnt to help improve programming in sanitation and hygiene.