Diapers dumped on road at City Centre. Image credit: Schulbz van Koleka
Residents in Lilongwe, one of the cities hit by Cholera, have been dumping used diapers on roads, including at the new City Centre.
Images from the City Centre show numerous diapers dumped on the road close to Area 13.
To the west of the city along the M1 Road from Six Miles, used diapers are also a common sight.
There are various other places along roads in the city and in markets which are also being turned into landfills by residents.
This has raised concerns particularly at this time when when Malawi and the city are grappling with the Cholera outbreak which has killed 418 people since March this year.
Posting on Facebook, social media user Schulbz van Koleka noted that the residents of the areas where this behaviour is happening are usually well-informed people.
The residents are also well off and can afford to pay for waste management services hence could do better.
“These are folks from well-informed and well-off sections in the society. They drive their vehicles and throw this rubbish there.
“I am not surprised that Cholera is wrecking havoc now. It starts from this sloppiness,” Koleka wrote.
Commenters on the post described the residents’ conduct as pathetic and disgusting.
“Generally our waste management habits are pathetic! You go to a seemingly affluent place and want to throw some trash you look are around there’s no waste disposal bins. The few with bins look for the closest bush/drain to dump their stuff …am also not surprised as we grapple with hygiene related illnesses,” one commenter said.
Another wrote: “These are the same people who throw plastics all over Malawi as they drive on the roads. Shame on us.”
In Malawi, Cholera has reached alarming levels with 11 people dying due to the disease over the past 36 hours.
Yesterday, Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda urged Malawians in all districts to strictly follow all preventive measures if the country is to fight the cholera outbreak.
Chiponda asked Malawians to receive the cholera vaccine, refrain from communal eating, eat well cooked and warm food, use clean water, desist from buying cooked foods, have toilets in homes, and fully practice personal hygiene.
She also urged councils in place bylaws aimed at helping to prevent the spread of cholera and has asked other councils to emulate.
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