The head of Essex & Suffolk has visited Africa to see how the work of the company’s international charity partner, WaterAid, is helping to change – and save – lives.

Heidi Mottram, chief executive of the Northumbrian Water Group, of which Essex & Suffolk Water is part, joined leaders from other water companies, businesses and trusts on the trip to Malawi, together with a number of individual supporters of WaterAid.

The charity works in 37 countries to provide people with access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education.

Around 2million people in Malawi don’t have access to safe water, 10m don’t have a toilet and 3,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by drinking unsafe water and poor sanitation.

Ms Mottram said: “I found it very frustrating that Malawi has a huge amount of water in Lake Malawi and in rivers and yet there are millions of people who can’t access it. It was very difficult to see the suffering caused by something that we take for granted every day.”

Boyce Nyirenda, who works in Malawi for WaterAid, said: “It was fantastic to host the recent visit from Heidi Mottram of Northumbrian Water Group. The impact of the company’s support across all of WaterAid’s work is tremendous.”