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Egypt improves access to water and sanitation

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Egypt has made great strides in improving access to drinking water and is well-situated to address remaining challenges related to water and sanitation, a United Nations independent human rights expert said today.

"The level of political and financial commitment to tackle these complicated issues is to be commended," said Catarina de Albuquerque, the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, as she wrapped up an eight-day visit to Egypt today.

As a result of the Government's "good experience" in these areas in recent years, she said, authorities are better prepared to address obstacles, including extending access to sanitation, ensuring that the poorest can afford their drinking water, improving the quality of drinking water in more isolated and poorer areas and narrowing the gap between rural and urban as well as between formal and informal dwellings.

Among other successful initiatives, the Government, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other partners have set up a revolving fund to help the poor access clean water and sanitation through loans that can be paid back in instalments, Ms. de Albuquerque said.

"I saw that this practice has a decisive impact on the daily lives of the people concerned, especially for women and children," she added.

Such achievements in Egypt must be recognized, the expert stressed. "That it considers access to drinking water and sanitation a right for all its people is already to Egypt's credit."

Ms. de Albuquerque was appointed as a UN Independent Expert in September 2008, and reports to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council in an unpaid capacity.

UN News

Kenya :Water and adequate sanitation remain elusive dreams

Kenya

Provision of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation may remain a pipe dream to developing countries, Kenya included. Reports coinciding with the just ended Earth Summit reveal.

Zachary Ochieng

Late last month, 200 countries met in Johannesburg, South Africa for the just concluded World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). They all agreed in principle to halve the proportion of people with no access to water and proper sanitation by 2015. However, this may remain a pipe dream.

According to the UN 2002 Human Development Report, over 1 billion people had no access to safe drinking water while 2.4 billion - more than a third of the planet - lacked access to sanitation in the year 2000. But it is the poor people living in neglected and unhealthy environments of the developing world who have borne the heaviest brunt.

In Kenya, a survey jointly conducted by Strategy & Tactics, Research International East Africa (both research consultancy firms) and PriceWaterHouseCoopers, a leading management consultancy firm early this year shows that access to basic services is limited in all provinces except Nairobi. The survey, whose report titled "Kenya: State of the Nation - a report on the Baseline Survey", launched in July 2002, was conducted all over the country.

The survey's terms of reference called for the coverage of all districts in Kenya as well as a representative sample of the administrative divisions. Over 8000 interviews were conducted for the survey, with each province and district having a minimum of 500 and 100 respondents respectively. Random sampling methodology was used to select the respondents.

According to the report, only one in twenty, five per cent, respondents had a flush toilet inside their dwelling, while one in eight, 13 per cent, respondents claimed no access to any kind of sanitation. The report adds that only one in twenty respondents had access to water via a tap in their dwelling with nine per cent of respondents having a tap in their yard. A third of the respondents, 32 per cent, were getting their water from a river or dam, a worrying scenario in terms of water-borne diseases.

The report also notes that the limited access that respondents have to refuse removal services raises important health and environmental issues. Only one per cent of respondents had a local authority that removed their refuse. 35 per cent of the respondents got rid of their refuse by dumping it in the open.

The report further states that fetching water was seen as a woman's job, with 85 per cent of households identifying a female as the one responsible for this activity. Findings also showed that many households spent a larger proportion of the day looking for water. More than 22 per cent of households without a tap in their dwelling or yard spent more than two hours a day fetching water.

Yet access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are basic human rights. According to various UN charters, every individual has the right to be protected from diseases and other health hazards posed by insufficient water and poor sanitation.

In May 2002, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlement (UNCHS-HABITAT) and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) launched a campaign on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for all in Kenya's capital Nairobi. The WASH campaign is part of a global advocacy effort launched to mobilize political support and action around the world, as well as to raise public awareness on the need for sanitation, hygiene and safe water.

Available data shows that the low - income households, slums and informal settlements resort to buying water from private operators at high prices. Private water operators have mushroomed all over the place, with trucks hitherto used for exhauster services having been turned into water tankers. The vended water is often contaminated, posing a health hazard to consumers.

According to WASH, rapid urban growth in Kenya and other developing countries has outpaced the capacity of urban authorities to provide basic services. "The result is a lowering in the quality of life, reduced urban productivity, increased burden of health care and unmitigated environmental pollution".

The HABITAT/Government of Kenya's "Nairobi: A situation Analysis 2001" report paints even a gloomier picture. According to the report, an estimated 1.5million people in Nairobi - about 60 per cent of the city's official population of 2.5million - live in dingy hovels in slums and informal settlements. The report notes that households in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum and the largest one in East and Central Africa, pay up to five to twenty times for a litre of water than the average American citizen.

Kenya is one of the sixty countries that signed the Bonn Ministerial Declaration assigning high priority to water and sanitation as vital keys to sustainable development. Kenya is a signatory of the Rio de' Janeiro declaration making water, sanitation and hygiene a top priority for action on the continent that is seriously affected by lack of basic water and sanitation services. This, however, remains an elusive goal.

WSSCC chairman Sir Richard Jolly says: "Clean water alone leads only to minor health improvements. Sound hygiene behaviour must be addressed in its own right, with adequate sanitation and clean water as supporting components. While each of the three elements has some health benefits, it is their combined effort that has far greater impact".

According to WASH statistics, some 6000 children die every day from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. In October 1995, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) convened a meeting of top African water experts, who agreed that the dominant challenge for policy makers and planners for the next decade is the "equity issue of ensuring that everyone gets reasonable access and fair share of safe water".

UNEP also stresses on the need to conserve water for future generations. According to UNEP, for development to be sustainable, it must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.

VISION 21, an initiative of the WSSCC, offers a practical picture of a future in which the problem of sanitation is brought to an end. The initiative seeks a clean and healthy world - a world in which every person has safe and adequate water and sanitation, and lives in a hygienic environment.

Chapter 21 of Agenda 21 on "solid waste management and sewage related issues" offers an integrated strategy for waste management, which addresses both formal and informal sectors. It includes minimization of waste, promotion of waste recycling and reuse, increasing service coverage and ensuring environmentally sound disposal.

On a positive note, a regional organization, with its Kenya Chapter office in the western town of Homa Bay, has embarked on a project to improve sanitation. The East African Communities Organisation for the management of Lake Victoria and its resources (ECOVIC), in collaboration with CARE Kenya, has started erecting Ecological Sanitation (ECOSAN) toilets in Homa Bay district. The project is to extend to other districts along the Lake Victoria region namely Busia, Bondo, Siaya, Nyando, Migori, Rachuonyo and Suba.

ECOSAN toilets can be effectively used to collect urine and faeces for agricultural use. These toilets are a perfect alternative to the flush- and - discharge and drop- and-store sanitation systems. They work on the principle of sanitized reuse of human waste. The principle builds upon the re-circulation of nutrients rather than water.

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Burkina Faso: Schoolchildren adopt improved sanitation and hygiene

January 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

For the students at the Weotenga Primary School [in Weotenga village] in central Burkina Faso, handwashing with soap is anything but a chore. In fact, it’s the latest craze, thanks to efforts by UNICEF to elevate the importance of personal hygiene in the region.

“I always wash my hands with soap after going to toilet,” says Ousmane Compaoré, 12, motioning towards a UNICEF-provided handwashing sink in front of the school’s lavatory.

[...]

In a different village, Natenga, there is a new mud-brick toilet facility roofed with iron sheets and supported by a pile of stones. It is equipped with a ventilation system and a waste outlet mechanism to facilitate emptying.

The village’s Hygiene and Sanitation Programme supervisor, Ouédraogo Congo, proudly shows off the facility, which was built by her husband, a mason, with the support of UNICEF and the Regional Centre for Low Cost Water Supply and Sanitation (CREPA). [...] Since 2005, UNICEF and CREPA have been helping the families in this village acquire latrines.

Read more: Jean-Jacques Nduita, UNICEF, 22 Jan 2009

Categories: Burkina Faso · Hygiene promotion · On-site sanitation · School sanitation
Tagged: CREPA, hand washing, UNICEF, ventilated improved pit latrines

Uganda: improving district level leadership on sanitation and hygiene

June 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Improved water supply and sanitation services are key priorities of Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan. Statistics show there is a lot of work to be done. Latrine coverage stands at 62% nationally, and 79% of these latrines lack hand-washing facilities. In schools, there is an average of 69 students per latrine.

Sanitation and hygiene are not priorities at district level. Limited funding (budgets for sanitation lag far behind those for water supply), the low profile and priority of sanitation and hygiene and the division of responsibilities and funding among departments that have other key priorities hamper progress.

[...]

Conditions vary substantially across Uganda’s 80 districts, and official coverage statistics do not reflect the condition or use of latrines. Outbreaks of faecal-related diseases such as cholera continue to occur. To address these issues in districts with particularly poor sanitation, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and the Network for Water and Sanitation (Netwas Uganda) launched the Learning for Policy and Practice in Sanitation and Hygiene (LeaPPS) programme. The programme has been implemented in the districts of Kyenjojo, Kamwenge, Arua and Koboko. LeaPPS brings together groups of people who work in hygiene and sanitation improvement, which includes politicians, local government staff, community members, donors, researchers and private sector providers.

Read more: Carmen da Silva Wells, Patience Turyareeba and Brecht Mommen, Source Bulletin, May 2009

Categories: Capacity development · Governance · Participatory management · Policies & legislation · Sanitation · Uganda
Tagged: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, local governance, NETWAS, SNV, stakeholder consultation

Africa must pay more attention to water, sanitation

Last Updated: Sunday, 5 July 2009, 8:46 GMT Previous Page

Coalition wants Africa to pay more attention to water, sanitation Email Print Have Your Say ( 0 ) The Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), has noted that water and sanitation issues were slipping back on the agenda of the African Union and reminded governments to keep the promises they made last year to the sector. Mr Patrick Apoya, Coordinator of CONIWAS recalled that last year the African Union summit focused on water and sanitation issues and leaders who attended the summit made commitments to accelerate progress towards water and sanitation goals, however, little or no action has been taken to ensure that African countries implement the commitments. The 13th African Union Summit was held from July 1 to 3, 2009 in Sirte, Libya on the theme: “Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security.” Mr Apoya expressed the concerns at a meeting jointly organised by his organisation and Water Aid, a non-governmental organisation to brief the media on the progress made in the water and sanitation sector since the commitment were made at the summit last year. “Access to safe water and sanitation topped the summit’s agenda last year when African leaders made a historic pledge to turn around dismal progress, however, it seems the reality and the rhetoric do not match,” he said. Mr Stephen Ntow, WaterAid Country Representative, admitted that there had been little action since the last AU summit and said about 780,000 children have died of diarrhoea in Africa since the last summit. He said about 546 million people in Africa, which constituted about two-thirds of Africa’s population do not have access to safe sanitation and 221 million people defecate in the open. “About 328 million people do not have access to safe source of water,” he said stressing that in Ghana there were 9,900 child deaths from diarrhoea according to the 2009 UNICEF statistics. Mr Ntow noted that failure to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation would have serious economic cost to the tune of about 15 billion dollars a year as well as a tragic human cost looking at the high diarrhoea mortality rate in children under age five. Mr Ibrahim Musah, Policy and Research Officer at WaterAid Ghana, emphasised the need for governments to fully implement and monitor commitments on water and sanitation. He said: “African governments must work closely with international counterparts like the Group of Eight (G8) countries to strengthen the global framework for action on water and sanitation.” Source: GNA

World Water Day and the need for global action on safe water and sanitation

World Water Day and the need for global action on safe water and sanitation

© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1076/Nesbitt

Boys carry buckets of water to clean the latrines at Kadadaba Primary School in Kadadaba, Nigeria. Efforts to improve sanitation access continue to show progress across the country.

NEW YORK, 19 March 2009 – As World Water Day 2009 approaches on 22 March, UNICEF-supported water, sanitation and hygiene projects are working to improve child health and survival in more than 90 developing countries.

VIDEO: Watch now

Globally, an estimated 125 million children under the age of five live in households without access to a safe drinking-water source. Even more people – a total of more than 2.5 billion around the world – are living without proper sanitation.

Focus on water in Africa

About a third of the total world population deprived of safe water lives in sub-Saharan Africa. In the Central African Republic, fully three quarters of the population has no access to adequate sanitation. The situation is particularly dire in the camps where thousands of refugees from regional and cross-border conflicts are settled.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2007-0418/Pirozzi

Girls tote their infant siblings while carrying water from a local hand pump, in the town of Boda in the Central African Republic.

UNICEF USA Ambassador and rock musician Joel Madden summed up the situation during a trip to one camp where nearly half of the children who die before the age of five are killed by diarrhoeal disease.

"I'm no better than they are," he said after spending the day in Sam Ouandja camp. "I was just born in a country where I can have clean water, and that's just the standard. We have [safe water] right in our house. They have to walk 15 minutes with a wheelbarrow to get water."

Tap Project makes an impact

But for people fortunate enough to live where safe water and sanitation are taken for granted, there are ways to help children and families for whom these things require wheelbarrows and time. The Tap Project, initiated by the US Fund for UNICEF and partners, is one of them.

Working from the knowledge that just $1 can provide safe drinking water for a child for 40 days, the project asks diners in restaurants across the United States to donate $1 for the tap water that is generally provided for free. Currently more than 2,300 restaurants throughout the country are participating.

All the funds are used to support UNICEF's efforts to halve the number of people without safe water and sanitation worldwide by 2015.

"Inaction on water issues is not an option," said UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Clarissa Brocklehurst. "Access to clean water and sanitation is fundamental to every aspect of a child's life – from health to survival and dignity."