2 weeks of safe toileting for a primary school child in Malawi

In rural areas of Malawi, the sanitation infrastructure in schools is usually little or not at all developed (Enzler/Gass, 2018). In addition, the division of a year into dry and rainy seasons poses a challenge for the sanitation and hygiene situation. Unstable sanitation facilities are often destroyed during the rainy season when the foundations are washed away (Government of Malawi, 2019). There is therefore a severely inadequate ratio of toilets to students (Enzler/Gass, 2018). In addition to the poor quality and quantity of sanitation facilities, female students cannot attend classes during their period due to a lack of washing facilities (UNICEF, 2013). The sixth Sustainable Development Goal (Sustainable Development Goal 6), adopted by the UN as part of Agenda 2030, aims to ensure access to safe sanitation for all people - including schoolchildren (SDGS, 2022). For girls and young women in particular, a lack of access to hygiene and sanitation often makes attending school difficult or even impossible. The reason for this is that most young women cannot afford expensive hygiene products, as almost 75% of the population lives on an average of less than $2 a day (World Bank, 2019). Apart from using leftover cloth, there are no options for adequate menstrual hygiene, which is why schoolgirls are more affected by the negative effects of the poor hygiene situation (UNICEF, 2013). Lack of handwashing facilities and access to safe sanitation and hygiene also pose a high health risk. If schoolchildren cannot wash their hands, the risk of disease transmission increases. In addition, if there are no septic tanks or public defecation due to inadequate sanitation, stagnant water forms, which spreads diseases more quickly (CDC, 2019).