Better sanitation is critical to our health

There are certain stories we publish and you imagine what the main subject in the story was thinking when they acted the way they did.
One of those is the practice of open defecation. This refers to the practice of defecating in fields, forests, bushes, water bodies, or other open spaces.
Defecating in the open is an affront to dignity and a risk to community health.
The practice is common where sanitation infrastructure and services are not available.

Even if toilets are available, behavioural change efforts may still be needed to promote the use of toilets.
This past week, the Ministry of Health launched a $5m (about Shs19b) three-year project to address open defecation and poor sanitation in seven districts with poor health indicators.
It was noted that at least eight percent of the population still practice open defecation and more than 60 percent need improved sanitation facilities such as toilets, according to the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey report.

This is a three-year project is being implemented in seven districts of Buikwe, Buyende, Kabarole, Kamuli, Kayunga, Luuka and Kole, targeting 2,351,440 people.
The commissioner of Environmental Health, Dr Herbert Nabaasa, told this publication that more than 500 toilets will be constructed through this project. 

The Unicef Representative to Uganda, Dr Munir Safieldin, who represented development partners at the launch in Kampala, said they would continue to support Uganda’s efforts in tackling gaps in sanitation and hygiene. Uganda remains a country where most of the money allocated to the health budget is spent on fighting diseases that would be prevented through basic sanitation practices. Such a routine leaves little or nothing to invest in research or other diseases that may require more attention.

Let us all remind our wider communities that open defecation is linked to high child mortality,  poverty, and large disparities between rich and poor.
The most common sanitation-related diseases are diarrhoea, intestinal worm infections, typhoid  and cholera.

It can lead to water pollution when rain flushes faecal matter that is dispersed in the environment into surface water or unprotected wells.
Ending open defecation is an indicator being used to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal Number 6.
The goal declares the importance of achieving “clean water and sanitation for all”.