By Hope Chimwala and Alex Mlanga

Blantyre, November,14 Mana: Blantyre City Council (BCC) has intensified sanitation and hygiene measures in town by placing refuse bins in strategic places as one way of its fight against cholera and other water borne diseases during the current rainy season.

BCC Chief Executive Officer, Denis Chinseu, disclosed this to Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Friday saying facilities have been provided for waste disposal in all market places to ensure proper disposal of waste.

“We have placed these bins in markets and other strategic places. We are planning to buy additional ones which will be placed in all designated places within the city,” he added.

Chinseu further said the council continues to engage business people in all city market places to ensure they maintain a hygienic environment in order to keep the city clean and avoid cholera and water borne diseases.

“We are moving in various markets to inform business people on the importance of keeping their environment clean,” he said.

Chairperson for Blantyre Market, Black Binya said his committee will ensure that all business people in the market keep their places and toilets clean in addition to enforcing proper wastes disposal.

“We have designated areas for waste disposal and from there city council workers will collect the waster for further disposal. The good thing is that we never registered any cholera case in the market when the pandemic previously hit the city,”, he said.

Besides routine refuse collection in Limbe and residential areas, the BCC held sanitation awareness on November 8, 2024 calling for total sanitation and hygiene in the city.

Malawi experienced a cholera outbreak with 36,943 cases and 1,210 associated deaths reported from all 28 districts in 2022 and 2023.