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Sierra Leone: Do You Have Access to a Decent Toilet Facility?
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Concord Times (Freetown)
COLUMN
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 25 March 2008
Tanu Jalloh
Even as Sierra Leone celebrates World Water Day, do you know that sixty-two percent of Africans do not have access to an improved sanitation facility - a proper toilet - which separates human waste from human contact? Six in 10 Africans remain without access to proper toilet and this poor sanitation threatens public health, says a World Health Organisation/Unicef joint monitoring programme for water supply and sanitation.
In Sierra Leone the ministry of health and sanitation has expressed optimism that the situation may improve, apparently emboldened after UK's international development minister Douglas Alexander visited the country on February 23 to launch a five-year water, sanitation and hygiene education programme worth £32 million.
According to DfID UK's contribution will provide an additional 1.5 million people with safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene education and will help save the lives of up to 3,000 children each year.
"The programme, which is run in conjunction with UNICEF and the Sierra Leone government, will not only focus on rural areas but also target the capital city, Freetown which suffers from a fragile water supply," the department said.
Douglas Alexander had earlier told the President Ernest Bai Koroma that sanitation was essential for a healthy, secure and dignified life.
"In Sierra Leone, 20,000 children under five die every year from dirty water and hygiene-related causes.
Women and girls pay a particularly heavy price - many don't go to school because there are no toilets for them to use. Many avoid eating or drinking all day as they can only go to the toilet when it's dark." In the interim, Unicef has further revealed that 29 per cent of infant deaths under five years of age are caused by diarrhoea.
"Out of 68,640 child deaths last year 19,905 were due to diarrhoea." Therefore, providing safe water and basic sanitation for the people is at the heart of the country's recovery and the long journey out of poverty for millions of people.
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In a country where less than half the population has access to safe water and sanitation and 20,000 children under the age of five die every year from dirty water and hygiene-related illness, the UK envoy observed that: "Women and girls pay a particularly heavy price - many don't go to school because there are no toilets for them to use. Many avoid eating or drinking all day as they can only go to the toilet when it's dark." The UK contribution increases Sierra Leone's current spending on water and sanitation by seven times and aims to put the country back on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the proportion of people without safe water or basic sanitation.
To this end, government's annual spending on water is £1.7 million but the funding from the UK aims to help women and children particularly through better hygiene practices and the drinking of safe water. They will also provide technical support to the Sierra Leone government to help strengthen their own ability to deliver better water services to the poorest in the future.
Meanwhile, a global report will be published later this year, but preliminary data on the situation in Africa has been as part of World Water Day 2008 celebration. The Day, built around the theme: "Sanitation Matters," seeks to draw attention to the plight of some 2.6 billion people around the world who live without access to a toilet at home and thus are vulnerable to a range of health risks.
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