WHY NIGERIA NEEDS TO END OPEN DEFECATION NOW

Open defecation, the practice of defecating outside and in public as a result of lack of access to toilets and latrines has tremendous consequences on human health, dignity and security as well as the environment, social and economic development. It is reported that a child dies every 2 and a half minutes from diseases linked to open defecation. This practice needs to be stopped now in the interest of the country’s development. WINIFRED OGBEBO reports

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, said each year, more than 800,000 children under- five die needlessly from diarrhoea – more than one child a minute, countless others fall seriously ill, with many suffering long-term health and developmental consequences as a result of poor sanitation and hygiene.

It is reported that some 2.5 billion people worldwide lack the benefits of adequate sanitation while more than 1 billion people practice open defecation.

Many countries across the globe, including Nigeria where this practice goes on are labeled ‘vast toilets’. It is estimated that more than a third of Africans practice open defecation and 113 million Nigerians (70.6 percent) lack access to improved sanitation.

Most of the 113m Nigerians, according to a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expert, Job Ominyi, actually defecate in the open.

A water, sanitation and hygiene specialist at the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Mr. Saando Anom, said this number is more than the population of Spain.

According to him, open defecation thrives in Nigeria largely because of the absence of effective policies and strict penalties for offenders.

He said just one gram of human faeces can contain more than 10 million viruses, one million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs .

“Think for a moment, sicknesses people get by eating and drinking their own shit! Water, sanitation and hygiene can reduce diseases between 25 to 50 percent,” he said.

Even where there are functional toilets, some people unfortunately still indulge in the pratcice of open defecation. Many of the reasons usually given for this are as ludicrous as they sound.

Many people say they prefer open defecation because of the open air breeze. What a stupid thing to say.

The effects of open defecation are serious, with urgent concerns of ground water resource pollution, contamination of agricultural produce.

Open defecation is a major contributing factor to a multiplicity of water and sanitation-related diseases, such as diarrhea, cholera and typhoid.

Ominyi said not only is open defecation (and lack of improved sanitation facilities) detrimental to human health, it also affects economic and social development e.g., the productive activities of impoverished populations such as schooling are severely restricted by ill health from contaminated water.

Hope of the Millennium Development Goals of halving the percentage of the population that did not have improved sanitation in 1990 by 2015 seems to be unlikely at the current state.

UNICEF introduced the concept of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) as a methodology for mobilising communities to completely eliminate open defecation. At the heart of CLTS lies communities’ own appraisal, analysis of open defecation, internalization of need for behavioural change and their own action to become open defecation free.

Six states in Nigeria, namely Katsina, Bauchi, Benue, Jigawa, Kaduna and Zamfara have embarked on the phase 2 of the ‘Sanitation, Hygiene and Water in Nigeria (SHAWN)’ project aimed at getting about 28,000 communities in Nigeria open defecation free by end of 2018.

Commissioners of state water resources & other state ministries present at the SHAWN-II national sensitization meeting organized by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and UNICEF in Abuja, agreed to adopt and make one local government area each in their states open defecation free by March 2015.

Commendable as this may be, Anom, however, said open defecation thrives in Nigeria largely because of the absence of effective policies and strict penalties for offenders. Basic sanitation is improved sanitation. It involves procuring facilities that ensure hygienic separation of human excreta from human contact. They include flush or pour-flush toilet/latrine to a piped sewer system, a septic tank or a pit latrine, ventilated improved pit latrine, pit latrine with slab, composting toilet.

A report by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation, March 2013, stated that the state of sanitation remains a powerful indicator of the state of human development in any community.

It said that access to sanitation bestows benefits at many levels. Cross-country studies show that the method of disposing of excreta is one of the strongest determinants of child survival: the transition from unimproved to improved sanitation reduces overall child mortality by about a third. Improved sanitation also brings advantages for public health, livelihoods and dignity-advantages that extend beyond households to entire communities.

The UN boss, Ban Ki Moon said “poor water and sanitation cost developing countries around $260 billion a year — 1.5 percent of their gross domestic product. On the other hand, every dollar invested can bring a five-fold return by keeping people healthy and productive. When schools offer decent toilets, 11 percent more girls attend. When women have access to a private latrine, they are less vulnerable to assault. “

The Millennium Development Goal 7 (MDG7) Target 10 is to halve by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. The world remains off track to meet the MDG sanitation target of 75 percent and if current trends continue, is set to miss the target by more than half a billion people. Unless the pace of change in the sanitation sector can be accelerated, the MDG target may not be reached until 2026, noted the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). Unless the pace of change in the sanitation sector can be accelerated, the MDG target may not be reached until 2026.

“We are a long way from achieving the MDG target of reducing by half the proportion of people lacking adequate sanitation. We must urgently step up our efforts, with all actors working together for rapid, tangible results. And as we look beyond 2015, it is essential that sanitation is placed at the heart of the post-2015 development framework. The solutions need not be expensive or technology-driven. There are many successful models that can be replicated and scaled up. We must also work to educate at-risk communities and change cultural perceptions and long-standing practices that have no place in our modern world. By working together – and by having an open and frank discussion on the importance of toilets and sanitation – we can improve the health and well-being of one-third of the human family,” Moon added.