Local toilets not good enough

 
AS the World commemorated World Toilet Day yesterday, WaterAid Tanzania called for the government intervention on improvement of urban sanitation after a new report ranking Tanzania 12th in the world for having the greatest percentage of urban dwellers living without safe, private toilets.

The State of the World Toilets report looks at the problem of urban sanitation and health threats in the world. The UN predicts by 2050 twothirds of the global population will be living in towns and cities. The report highlights challenges facing 700 million urban dwellers around the world living without sanitation. 

 

In Tanzania almost 69 per cent of the urban population has no access to a toilet, many have no choice but to defecate in the open using roadsides, railway tracks and plastic bags dubbed ‘flying toilets’.

The high population density of urban areas means that diseases spread fast in the absence of good sanitation. WaterAid’s latest ‘State of World’s Toilets’ report has exposed several countries for failing to make progress in providing urban sanitation, despite their rapid economic growth.

“As a country seems not to be doing well in terms of the toilet coverage in rural areas, some reports indicate that open defecation has increased rather than decreased. The situation is not any better in urban areas where people living in unplanned settlement, still face challenges of where to dispose waste water as well as solid waste.

Another main challenge access to running and safe water,” said Dr Ibrahim Kabole, WaterAidCountry Director during an interview with ‘Sunday News’.

Dr Kabole added: “In terms of health, this is a very big issue because it is a source of current outbreaks of diseases like cholera… this makes people not to be productive towards the development of this country, it is our call therefore as an organization that efforts that are currently being invested in improving sanitation and hygiene be doubled.

” He said the move would help the government to attain its development plans by having healthier citizens and spending less money in buying medicines. “Everyone living in urban areas, including slums, need to have a toilet to ensure public health is protected,” he noted with concern.