The image of a primary school child leaving their wheelchair outside a pit latrine and crawling across an unclean floor to perform basic bodily functions is stark.

These and similar stories emerged from a study we conducted in a Malawian town. And they suggest that while the southern African nation is being hailed for its efforts to get more children in the classroom, more work is needed to ensure their experiences on school grounds – and especially in bathroom facilities – are positive and safe.

In developing countries fewer than 5% of children that have disabilities attend school. In Malawi, UNICEF estimates that 2.4% of the young people have a disability.

In our study we assessed the water and sanitation facilities at primary schools in a rural town in Malawi to see how disability friendly they were. We were keen to understand how well schools had translated Malawi’s policies on access to water, sanitation and hygiene into practice.