Kampala — Today is World Health Day. This year's theme focuses on urbanisation and public health. Winnie Nanteza and Gerald Tenywa explore the impact urbanisation has had on Uganda's school - going child.

If urbanisation was a human being he would be one with a large appetite. Look at the way the hill tops and hillsides have been swallowed up by concrete in most parts of Kampala. The valleys that were once covered with wetlands which should be left for water to drain away have not been spared.

For city residents who have descended down into the water logged areas, which were once wetlands, the schools have followed them. This is because they need services cheaply and at their door steps, but this has come at a huge cost to people, especially the children.

Water and sanitation

'Water is life' so goes a long standing slogan. But this is changing in Kalerwe and Bwaise where water flows during the rainy season to prove that it can be a hazard. When it rains, the media is awash with pictures of school children pulling up their clothes as they cautiously walk through the floods. However, the water never comes unaccompanied. In slums, people take advantage of the storm water flowing into the low lying areas and release faecal matter so that their shallow pit-latrines have room for more after the rainy season is over.

"Children and women are more exposed to the risk of water borne diseases," says Paul Luyima, a consultant. "When the floods come, men can easily escape since they are not at home most of the time."

The poor sanitary conditions in water-logged areas should be taken seriously. "Water borne diseases do not know boundaries," says Luyima, adding that such diseases, which are referred to as communicable diseases, move from one part of the city to another.

"Once a problem is communicable it can not remain small. It usually starts in a small way and without attention it spreads and expands into an epidemic," says Luyima.

The underground water systems are at a risk of being contaminated.

The problem becomes worse with flooding. Luyima says the dirt contaminates food and water. Children below the age of 14 years suffer from worms because they play around filthy areas and sometimes walk in the mud without shoes.

Prevention better than cure

Luyima says: "We need to clear the drains and improve the way the Government communicates laws to the people, so that they can understand the risks which will in turn motivate them to work towards improved conditions.

Are children affected in the same way? "Your child may not be exposed to risk while at school, but they have to go back home. It is like washing a shirt and then drying it in the mud," Luyima explains.

The Government is concerned about health conditions in schools and there are officials in the education ministry mandated to follow up on such matters. However, as Luyima points out, the problem lies in implementation and logistics.

Congestion

Over-crowding is another problem. It leads to acute respiratory diseases particularly among children with asthma. The classrooms are too crammed. "It is difficult to maintain hygiene where children are over-crowded," Luyima says.

School toilets are not easy to maintain and the play grounds easily get littered with waste providing a fertile breeding ground for vectors like houseflies.

Luyima says some activities like roadside eateries and chapati dealers are typical of urbanisation. However, better planning and law enforcement can minimise some of the effects of these activities.

Accidents and injuries

Lawrence Niwabiine, Regional Traffic Officer, Kampala, says children are more vulnerable during the holidays. This period usually registers a big number of children in road accidents.

"When they go for coaching, their parents give them money for transport and three children sit on one bodaboda. If such a bodaboda gets in an accident, chances are that all the three will die," he says.

When confronted, children say they feel more secure sitting on one bodaboda because they do not trust the bodaboda riders. One rider may disappear with one of them incase they use a bodaboda each.

However, Niwabiine does not agree that urbanisation is to blame for some of these accidents. He believes it is the poorly planned transport system.

"It is not about urbanisation. We need to plan the transport system such that every rider possesses an identity card and a a known bodaboda stage from which they operate for easy tracing in case of an accident," he says.

He says increased use of kibaluwa drivers - those who are not attached to any vehicle - has led to the increase of hit and run road accidents.

Such drivers need identity cards, uniforms and permanent stages to which they are attached.

On a positive note, Niwabiine says school children should continually be guided on the use of road signs, especially the zebra crossing. In fact, some school children seem to be aware of the use of a zebra crossing more than adult pedestrians.

He says it is unfortunate that there are few zebra crossing signs in the city. Some of them have faded.

Niwabiine says during city riots, children who are still at school are given priority in being protected against injuries.

In some cases, business investors in urban areas have turned against schools.

For instance, schools like Shimoni Demonstration School and Nakivubo Blue Primary School were relocated in order to put a hotel and a shopping complex respectively.

The move disorganised pupils in those schools.

Many schools are relocating outside the city. This move indicates that with better planning of residential areas, business centres and schools, it would help to de-congest the city and provide better amenities for the children. The future of our society is in our children.

The Government needs to wake up and guide development in urban areas.