Sanitation Crisis in Africa

What is sanitation? 

I often wonder what sanitation is. Some say that it is related to public health, especially in terms of the provision of clean drinking water. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines sanitation in terms of the provision of facilities for the safe management of human waste. This can be in the form of toilets, containment and storage services and treatment and safe disposal facilities. Good sanitation is essential to the way of life for humans. It provides protection! To what? To a healthy living environment. To natural resources like water (both surface and ground) and soil. It provides safety, security and dignity for people. As such sanitation is a basic need for people. Yet, there are 2 billion people worldwide that do not have the basis sanitation facilities (WHO).  

Dangers of Inadequate Sanitation: 

Inadequate sanitation is one of the major reasons that has cause some of the biggest and health problems across our planet today. It is stated that diseases due to poor sanitation and hygiene is that cause of 4% of all deaths and 5.7% of all disability or ill health in the world (WHO). A stunning statistic! There are a variety of diseases that are prevalent due to poor sanitation that are vigorously attacking the poor citizens of the world. 

Poor sanitation reduces human well-being. Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of various water-borne diseases such as polio, typhoid fever and others diseases known such as: 

1) Cholera: An infectious disease that causes diarrhoea, which is caused by a bacterium called vibrio cholerae which is found in foods or water contaminated by faeces (BorgenProject). 

2) Dysentery: Is an infection of the intestines that causes diarrhoea containing blood or mucus, which is highly infectious (NHS) This aggressive disease can occur simply if someone doesn’t wash hands after going to the toilet or contaminate a water supply! 

3) Diarrhoea: It is caused by various viruses, bacteria, parasites and micro-organisms. This disease leads to loose, watery bowel movement that ultimately leads to dehydration, which if left untreated can lead to death (UNICEF). Simply handwashing can help eliminate the number of diarrheal deaths. Something this simple! 

This is the danger of inadequate sanitation that some privileged people like myself may neglect sometimes. Think! 

Here is the gravity of the situation in Africa: 

• Almost 300 million people have a lack of adequate sanitation (Septien 2015) 
• 115 people in Africa die every hour from diseases linked to poor sanitation, hygiene and contaminated water (UN) 
• Sub-Saharan Africa has amongst the lowest rates of WASH coverage globally of around 14% with further disparities between rural and urban populations (Roche et al 2017) 
• Between 1970 and 2011, a total of 3,221,050 suspected cholera cases were reported to WHO, representing 46% of globally reported cases (Mengel et al 2014) and in 2016 it was 54% 
• It is estimated that 550 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are at risk of being affected by cholera (Lessler et al 2018) 
• More than 315,000 children die every year from diarrhoeal diseases (Walker and Logan 2016) 

Factors Driving Water and Sanitation in Africa 

Wang et al (2013) has stated that Africa has only 9% of global renewable water resources that can support 15% of global population. However, due to increasing population growth rate and rapid urban to rural migration, supply is unable to meet that ever-increasing demand. The UN predicts that by 2020 sub-Saharan Africa will have the highest prevalence of urban slums. As a result, this will further stretch water supply. This will lead to many African countries striving to expand and meet the basic needs of its people, in terms of housing, electricity and water supply. However, Africa is one of the poorest continents in the world. Low economic development will prove to be detrimental to development of urban cities and provision of basic services. Poverty will also exacerbate and create a situation of economic water scarcity, and in some areas cripple water management capabilities financially and infrastructure. For example Walker and Logan (2016) found out that 68% of people lacked access to sewage infrastructure and 36% from piped water from the 38 countries they survey. Demonstrating the lack of access people have to clean water. 

Water pollution is another factor that has driven poor access to clean water and inadequate sanitation. Pollution not only reduces to amount of available freshwater for people, but also contaminated water with pollutants and human waste. That further exacerbates inadequate sanitation! There are different types of pollution: domestic wastewater, agricultural pollution, industrial pollution and solid waste pollution. Where due to improper infrastructure or poor governance, has led to the aggressive contamination and degradation of the water supply in many countries. WHO estimated that cities generate 1.3 billion tonnes of solid waste per year. It is a must to handle this waste properly. 

Finally, governments. We know there is a lack of coordination in the management of water. We know there is a lack of sustainable investment into infrastructure. The fact 75% of Africans rely on groundwater, and lack of supervision has led groundwater supply contamination from fertiliser pollution and overexploitation (Wang et al 2013). Rainwater harvesting a cheap method to collect water although there is physical scarcity in some areas due to climate change caused droughts. But the most important issues that has driven inadequate sanitation is poor information and education services. Where the UN states, almost 80% countries in Africa are failing to meet WASH commitments significantly. This simple strategy could potentially help save the lives of millions of children from preventable diseases. 

There are numerous issues and challenges that Africa faces, both human and natural, but must overcome to combat sanitation crisis in the continent