Slow Progress on Africa's Sanitation Goals

Of the eight Millennium Development Goals, the least progress has been made on ensuring adequate access to sanitation for the 15 percent of the world's population still defecating in the open, a sanitation advocate says.

An upgraded wash point with toilets in a South African informal settlement.

  • Africa:   Let's Talk About Poo

    UNIRIN, 22 October 2012

    Enter the dignified portals of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine this week, and the first thing you will see is a gold-plated turd, resting on a scarlet silk… Read more »

  • West Africa:   Cleaner Toilets to Save Slums From Cholera

    UNIRIN, 16 August 2012

    Aid agencies are scrambling to treat thousands of cholera patients in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, where the number of infections is mounting by over 250 per day. Most… Read more »

  • Africa:   Fixing the 'Silent' Sanitation Crisis

    IPS, 18 November 2012

    Organisers of this year's World Toilet Day, which falls on Nov. 19, are using the slogan 'I give a shit - do you?' to break the silence around the crucial issue of sanitation and… Read more »

  • Madagascar:   Addressing Toilet Taboos to Improve Sanitation

    UNIRIN, 23 March 2012

    In Madagascar's east coast city of Tamatave, a local taboo against having a toilet in your house or on your land has complicated the task of trying to improve the region's dire… Read more »

  • Zambia:   A Plastic Bag for a Toilet

    UNIRIN, 11 August 2011

    Charity Muyumbana, 45, has spent her entire adult life contending with recurrent flooding, poor drainage, and a lack of toilets in Kanyama, the sprawling Lusaka township where she… Read more »

  • West Africa:   Smoothing the Way for More Pit Latrines

    UNIRIN, 31 August 2011

    The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and NGOs operating in West Africa say the main barrier to more pit latrines in rural areas is not poverty or lack of resources, but a lack of… Read more »

  • Madagascar:   Raw Sewage Kills

    UNIRIN, 10 August 2011

    About a third of Madagascar's 20 million people do not have access to water for washing and most of the rest share unsanitary toilet facilities, according to a July 2011 World Bank… Read more »

  • Africa:   Sub-Saharan Sanitation Targets 'Two Centuries Away'

    UNIRIN, 18 November 2011

    It will take two centuries for sub-Saharan Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe… Read more »

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