The World Health Organisation (WHO), has urged governments across the world to increase their investment in providing toilet amenities for their citizens, so as to attain the sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of universal sanitation coverage by 2030.
In a statement issued recently, WHO said the only way the goal, which is for everyone to have access to toilets that safely contain excreta, is for countries to make comprehensive policy shifts and invest more funds in providing toilet amenities for citizens.
WHO on Monday launched the first global guidelines on sanitation and health.
Nigerians are among the 4.5 billion people in the world who are without access to safely-managed sanitation services, in other words, a toilet connected to a sewer or pit or a septic tank that treats human waste
The international agency said adopting the new guidelines will significantly reduce the 829,000 annual deaths due to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene.
WHO estimated that every US$1 invested in sanitation would yield nearly a six-fold return as measured by lower health costs, increased productivity and fewer premature deaths.
According to the agency, worldwide, 2.3 billion people lack basic sanitation, with almost half of them forced to defecate in the open.
This includes in Nigeria where open defecation is not a crime. Most homes in the urban and rural areas do not have toilets and, as a result, people tend to defecate in public areas, bushes, bins, drainage among other places.
Nigerians are among the 4.5 billion people in the world who are without access to safely-managed sanitation services, in other words, a toilet connected to a sewer or pit or a septic tank that treats human waste.
Soumya Swaminathan, Deputy Director-General for Programmes, WHO, said without proper access, millions of people across the world are deprived of the dignity, safety, and convenience of a decent toilet.
“Sanitation is a fundamental foundation of human health and development and underpins the core mission of WHO and ministries of health worldwide.
“WHO’s Sanitation and Health Guidelines are essential to securing health and wellbeing for everyone, everywhere,” she said.
She said WHO developed the new guidelines because current sanitation programmes are not achieving anticipated health gains and there is a lack of authoritative health-based guidance on sanitation.
Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, WHO, said billions of people live without access to even the most basic sanitation services.
She said the transmission of a host of diseases, including cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio, is linked to dirty water and inadequately treated sewage.
“Poor sanitation is also a major factor in transmission of neglected tropical diseases such as intestinal worms, schistosomiasis, and trachoma, as well as contributing to malnutrition,” she added.
WHO noted that countries such as India had recorded tremendous improvement in achieving of the SDG 6.
India used to have the highest prevalence open defecation country, a position that is now occupied by Nigeria.
The agency commended India and Senegal for taking significant action to combat open defecation. Senegal was praised as the leading country in Africa that recognises the role of pit latrines and septic tanks in ensuring services for all.
“The government is providing innovative solutions with the private sector to ensure pits and septic tanks are emptied and contents are treated to ensure affordable services and clean communities”, it said.
The WHO new guidelines set four principal recommendations:
. Sanitation interventions should ensure entire communities have access to toilets that safely contain excreta.
· The full sanitation system should undergo local health risk assessments to protect individuals and communities from exposure to excreta – whether this be from unsafe toilets, leaking storage or inadequate treatment.
· Sanitation should be integrated into regular local government-led planning and service provision to avert the higher costs associated with retrofitting sanitation and to ensure sustainability.
The health sector should invest more and play a coordinating role in sanitation planning to protect public
health.
