National Environmental Health Policy.

The Environmental Health Policy (2018) provides policy direction on implementation of environmental health interventions. The policy has been developed in line with the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS III). The Policy will be implemented between 2018 and 2023 through the following priority areas: Food Safety and Hygiene; Health and Safety; Vector and Disease Prevention and Control; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; Emergencies, Climate Change and Human Health. Policy objectives are: 1. To protect the consumer against unsafe, impure and fraudulently presented food that may be injurious to health; 2. To improve water quality, sanitation and hygiene at household level, public and private institutions; 3. To protect workers and the general public from impacts of unsafe and poor working environment; 4. To prevent and control the transmission of communicable diseases; 5. To reduce impacts of public health emergencies and effects of Climate Change on Human health.
Strategies include: Establish and strengthen Food Control Authority; Strengthen and enforce appropriate food laws and regulations; Strengthen the monitoring of food at different points in the food chain; Strengthen water quality monitoring from source to user-end; Promote sanitation facilities that are gender and disability friendly; Promote proper management of liquid and solid waste at all levels; Promote Open Defecation Free (ODF) communities; Establish mechanisms for health impact assessment during EIAs; Establish advocacy mechanisms for management of radioactive, toxic and injurious substances; Establish advocacy mechanisms for management of radioactive, toxic and injurious substances; Strengthen environmental health hazard identification, mapping and risk reduction mechanisms at all levels; Strengthen preparedness for response, during and after emergencies and disasters; Promote research on climate change impacts and adaptation; among others.