Chioma Umeha
Global effort to ensure improved water, sanitation and
hygiene conditions seems like a drop in the ocean. As at today, about 4.4
billion people do not use improved sanitation, while 2.1 billion people
worldwide are still drinking unsafe water.
The new WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) reports
broke the sad news that “About 2.1 billion people worldwide lack access to
safe, readily available water at home, while 4.4 billion lack safely managed
sanitation.”
Analysts have described the trend as a worrisome one which
has pitched children worldwide up the creek. The reason they say is simple –
Clean water, sanitation, good toilet and hygiene practices are essential for
the survival and development of children.
Open defecation, unclean water, and sanitation-related
diseases are some of the leading causes of death of children under the age of
five. Every day, over 800 global children die from preventable diseases caused
by poor Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH), the United Nations Children Fund
(UNICEF) reports.
Perhaps, more frightening is Nigeria’s statistics of
water-borne diseases among children. The report said that since the past six
weeks, eleven percent of Nigerians suffered diarrhoea, stressing that 76
percent of this number were children who are under five years.
Yet poor water, sanitation and unhygienic practices such as
open defecation is still highly pervasive in the country.
Little Amina Abdulahi, aged seven was pressed to use a
toilet. Quickly, she strolled casually to a nearby bush and passed feces. After
defecating, her tiny hands reached for a bamboo stick to clean her anus. The
bamboo stick could not do a thorough cleaning, so she cut some green leaves to
do the job.
As she walked leisurely home, she stepped on feces in the
field which is an open defecation site for her the household. Innocently, Amina
wiped her legs on the grass to clean the feces. It was not surprising that she
later developed diarrhea.This is because she did not wash her hands properly
and used the same hands to eat.
Speaking to DAILY INDEPENDENT, Saleh Haruna, ward head in
Jedawa Fulani village, reasoned that though Amina survived from diarrhea, many
children in Jedawa Fulani village were not as lucky.
Saleh said, “Water-borne diseases like acute diarrhea and
cholera after persistent vomiting and stooling has claimed the lives of many
people in his community, especially children.”
According to him, it is common to defecate openly in the
fields in Jedawa Fulani village. Some household shave dedicated fields where
both male and female, irrespective of their age, pass feces. Others in Jedawa
Fulani village do not have that luxury of devoting a whole field to the act of
passing feces,’ he told DAILY INDEPENDENT.
Many of them believe that passing of feces is a kind of ‘bowel
relief.’ It is also a natural urge and when it comes, the utmost priority is to
quickly get the relief by passing the feces in the next available corner,
regardless of hygiene. Unfortunately, the village does not also have potable
water.
Diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid and
poliomyelitis (disease affecting brain and spinal cord) among others which are
contacted through water contamination are common in the community, the Village
Head bemoaned.
The picture of water, sanitation and hygiene crisis in
Jedawa Fulani village is sordid and heart rending. The only source of water is
from wells whose depths are between eight to 15 feet.
Confirming this, Saleh Haruna, ward head, whose major source
of livelihood is animal rearing and crop farming told DAILY INDEPENDENT that
well water has been the only drinking water for the residents of Jedawa Fulani
village.
Corroborating, Amodu Magaji, Driver, at Dambatta LGA,
pointed at one of the wells where DAILY INDEPENDENT reporter met him drawing
water said, “This 40 years old well is the only source of water to many
households in this part of Jedawa Fulani village. It doesn’t dry no matter the
season, but it serves many households in this part of my village throughout the
year. This particular well is nine feet, but there are others that are even 15
feet in depth.”
On the toilet hygiene in the community, Magaji lamented that
due to poor access to improved water and sanitation, his community indulges in
open defecation.
He, however, said his community is willing to use clean
toilet and stop open defecation if government would assist them.
He expressed concern over the prohibitive cost of buying
building materials like stone, cement and other tools required to build good
toilets and boreholes, saying the government should support the community in
this regard.
Jedawa Fulani village represents only one community in
Dambatta LGA, Kano State, out of the Nigeria’s 764 Local Governments where open
defecation is still prevalent.
Kafawa Community Embraces WASH Campaign
During on the spot assessment of Yammawar-Kafawa community
also in Danbatta LGA of Kano State, it was observed that the community has
embraced the WASH campaign.
Investigations showed that the over 500 residents of the
community were excited at the outcome of their new found habit of using safe
water, improved toilets and hygiene practices like hand washing in the last
five months.
The visibly excited village head, Rabiu Usman, said, “We are
happy and very determined to maintain the clean environment we now have as it
has drastically reduced some of the health challenges confronting our children.
“Some of the bad hygiene we practised was out of ignorance, but with this
enlightenment and campaign, our community is now better off because we are now
the envy of some of our neighbours.”
On further investigation, it was discovered that the
community which has over 50 houses, barely had improvised latrines before the
WASH intervention. However, there are now over 40 toilets in the village and
more were being built in order to stop open defecation through WASH project.
In an interaction, 40 -year-old Amodu Magaji, one of the
residents, who has two wives and eleven children confirmed, “We used to
defecate anyhow because very few houses had toilets for 50 years. But, we now
have over 40 and more toilets.”
Another fascinating thing about the new toilets is the
improved sanitation and hygiene. Investigations further showed that all the pit
latrines had covers with long sticks and rubber kettles hanging in between two
sticks and soap for washing hands immediately after defecating.
This new form of hand washing local technology was found
almost everywhere in the village – in the only primary school, the Mosque,
village square and every public place.
Commenting, Bioye Ogunjobi, UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation, and
Hygiene (WASH) specialist, said that UNICEF has supported the Ministry of Water
Resources to ensure access to hygiene and sanitation in 11 of the 774 LGAs in
various states across the country.
Ogunjobi stated this at a recent media dialogue in Kano on
sanitation and hygiene, themed; “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign
organised by Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB), Federal Ministry of
Information and Culture in collaboration with UNICEF.
Speaking at the event which had the support of European
Union (EU) and the Department for International Development (DFID), he said,
“There are 11 local government areas where WASH integrated project has been
successfully implemented.
“But, we are likely to have two more in Jigawa within the
next one month. But, but this is a drop in the ocean, because we are talking
about 774 LGAs and we have been able to address Open Defecation in only 11 LGAs
with 764 of them left,” Ogunjobi added.
On how communities become free from open defecation, the
WASH specialist noted, “We were able to achieve this by supporting the Federal
Ministry to implement what we call, ‘Community Led Total Sanitation’ (CLTS).”
He explained that the CLTS is an approach which helps
members of various communities to realise the dangers of Open Defecation (OD)
and take collective decision to stop the act by building and using improved
toilets.
Also, Olumide Osanyinpeju, Deputy Director, Head CRIB, FMIC,
said the Federal Ministry of Water Resources with support from UNICEF, in
partnership with Inter-Ministerial Agencies, Civil Society Partners, the
Private Sector, and the people of Nigeria, is currently leading the Open
Defecation Free (ODF) campaign to end the practice in the country by 2025, and
achieve universal access to safely managed sanitation by 2030.
With 47 million defecating in the open, while 33 million of
them use unimproved toilets, Nigeria is the second largest nation practising
open defecation worldwide, after India, according to the findings from the 2018
WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH NORM) survey. However, analysts
say, If all hands can be on deck, we can combat the unhealthy practice.
