WOMEN AND WATER IN MALAWI. An Ill-suited Couple

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Guardians and companions cooking outside Our Lady of Mount Carmel Community Hospital. 95% of the guardians in this hospital are women, who get stuck there, unable to dedicate their time to any other productive activity, rather than taking care of the sick ones, cooking for them, washing their clothes, etcetera. Besides the around 55 guardians, allowed to stay in the Guards at night, some relatives of the patients use to stay there too in order to help or to just be a company for the guardians. In the dorms outside, around 60 women and 15 men sleep every day and stay until the patients get better or until they are discharged.
The rainy season is a breeding ground for water-borne diseases and for malaria. The rain filters human and animal wastes to the streams, rivers and underground waters, contaminating them. Afterwards people drink and use these waters for bathing and for other domestic purposes. In the rainy season the cases of malaria also increase due to stagnant waters, where mosquitoes spread