It is well comprehended that sanitation and hygiene are crucial for preventing disease, promoting health, and improving quality of life. These crucial elements embrace personal and environmental cleanliness practices that minimize the spread of harmful pathogens, contaminated disorders, and other related aspects.
Taking this very fact into account, The Ethiopian Herald talked to Mezmure Yohannes, an environmentalist, graduated in Environmental Science from Addis Ababa University, to have professional viewpoints about hygiene and sanitation and other related matters.
He stated that effective hygiene and sanitation practices are vital in vulnerable populations, such as children, and in healthcare settings. Organizing systems and coming up with improved waste management strategies are of critical useful in making the capital neat and comfortable to live and work.
However, sanitation and hygiene in urban areas, specifically Addis Ababa, face challenges despite ongoing efforts to do away with a range of dirty matters and pollution factors. While some progress has been made in increasing access to sanitation facilities, significant gaps remain, especially in slum areas and with solid and liquid waste management."
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"Promoting urban water supply and expanding sanitation projects has helped the city, and numerous citizens are now benefiting from improved sanitation and hygiene initiatives. A project dealing with the complete sanitation chain from containment to treatment and reuse illustrates the immense potential of well-planned urban infrastructure development to enhance public health outcomes, environmental sustainability, and the overall quality of social well-being and has to be well expanded."
However, through persistence and dedicated maintenance, public opinion started to shift. Now, the facility is a symbol of cleanliness and community pride. According to him, the first thing that was done through this project was to change the attitude of people regarding sanitation. These days, most officials and people have positive views toward the importance of sanitation. However, this must be accompanied by the adequate infrastructure; otherwise, raising awareness on its own will not bring any change.
Mezmure said that, as Ethiopia continues to quickly grow and urbanize itself; initiatives like this one pave the way for a future where every resident has access to clean water and sanitation, thereby building inclusive, sustainable cities for generations to come. The current state of access to improved sanitation and the previous trends of sanitation in urban areas like Addis Ababa need to be succinctly assessed to make sound decisions and enhance the present lower level of access to improved sanitation.
Studies show that globally, an estimated 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, which is more than 35 percent of the world's population, and about 1 billion people- 15 percent of the world population do not have access to any kind of sanitation facility and exercise open defecation.
Furthermore, a total of 16 percent of the population living in urban Ethiopia do not have access to any kind of sanitation facility and exercise open defecation, of which the huge proportion lives in the slum areas. Hence, the level of practice and associated factors towards sanitation in the urban slum communities of Addis Ababa needs to be well assessed. Besides, a community-based cross-sectional training design has to be directed to undertake profitable deeds along that line.
"As the health of urban residents in Ethiopia is imperiled by the poor physical environmental conditions including inadequate shelter, overcrowded and dilapidated housing and neighborhoods, unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, water pollution, poor sanitation, the government in general and the Addis Ababa City Municipality in particular are working hard towards addressing problems."
Improvement of sanitation facilities and subsequent practices is considered to contribute to overall human development with far reaching benefits for the welfare of people. It can reduce wastewater flows when treatment capacities are upgraded, he added.
Understanding the level of inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene services in urban and rural settlements is crucial for prioritizing community interventions and resource allocation, he opined.
Mezmure added that projects undertaken by the municipality aiming at boosting the water supply should incorporate measures that account for the impact of increases in wastewater flows on the environment and downstream agricultural and domestic water uses like Akaki Kality locations. Land use restrictions to prevent water pollution should be put in place in those upstream areas that serve as natural water catchments for urban water supply.
Teshale Erkihun lives in Arada Sub-City, around Gedam Sefer. He is coordinating individuals collecting garbage door-to-door. He was recently approached by The Ethiopian Herald to comment on the state of hygiene and sanitation around his residence and beyond.
He said that inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene practices across the capital and within healthcare facilities heighten the likelihood of hospital-acquired infections. Therefore, the status of these services in Addis Ababa should be assessed and sound decisions should be made upon it so as to improve service delivery.
Despite the fact that these services have a long history of prevention and are crucial for health security, ensuring appropriate access to them and enforcing adherence to safety and hygiene procedures in the city is critical for reducing the risk of emerging and re-emerging disease transmission.
According to Teshale, it is clear that the impact of overcrowded living conditions, inadequate sanitation facilities, expose dwellers to a high risk of disease. Thus, they should be properly addressed. Most people expect that urban areas have better child health outcomes and lower child mortality than rural areas. Definitely, sanitation is the process of providing citizenry with facilities and services for the safe disposal of human waste. Sanitation also encompasses the maintenance of cleanliness or hygienic conditions through services such as proper waste collection and wastewater management.
He further said that shared use of sanitation facilities, poor cleanliness of sanitation facilities, and proximity of sanitation facilities to homes and indiscriminate dumping of garbage/refuse inside house compounds have to be well addressed to ensure a healthier generation. In this respect, integrated framework, which helps the capital address the challenges of hygiene and sanitation, needs to be expanded and put into effect. Intensification of sanitation and hygiene promotion programs at the district and household levels should be further expanded as they are instrumental in improving the cleanliness of the sanitation facilities and housing compounds, thereby reducing the risk of varied disorders
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In sum, increased access to improved water and sanitation, and advanced sanitation facilities and improve access to water sources for a range of dwellers of the capital have to be well promoted. In fact, over the years, several initiatives have been undertaken to change the feature of the capital and improve the livelihoods of its residents through refurbishing and constructing substandard houses, the construction of latrines and hand washing facilities as well as expanding access to safe water, sanitation hygiene and services.
For instance initiatives such as the Corridor Development projects, Addis Beautification and the annual voluntary programs coupled with the efforts to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene services have substantially improved the situations. However, further efforts are still needed. Hence, ongoing efforts should be further strengthened to address disparities, improve the quality of services, and promote hygiene awareness to ensure a healthy environment for all residents.
