Rumphi District, located in northern Malawi hosts 18 health care centres including 2 hospitals. Before TIC became involved, most facilities had no reliable, clean water and, broken or rudimentary sanitary systems. Functioning water, sanitation, and hygiene systems are critical components of safe healthcare. As is sometimes said:  A healthcare facility without proper water, sanitation, and hygiene, isn’t a healthcare facility!

TIC worked with our partners, and the local district government, to plan and institute a program called STREAMS. Key to the program are two types of ‘circuit riders’. Technical riders repair broken systems, do assessments and generally assist site managers with physical problems. Quality-of-care riders focus mainly on WASH behaviours (hand washing, cleaning, and waste management) provide training, and monitoring support.

TIC is particularly grateful for support through our partner Royal Roads University, from the Fund for Innovation and Transformation, funded by Global Affairs Canada, which allowed us to fully implement and test the STREAMS concept.