Chalinze sanitation woes near end

Coast. Chalinze has set itself a deadline of ensuring that every household has a modern toilet by September 1.

The move comes in the face of disturbing statistics that show that only 18 per cent homes have quality toilets whereas 17 per cent do not have toilets at all.

The meeting, which was convened by People Development Fund (PDF), was chaired by the outgoing municipal director, Mr Edes Lukoa, at Lugoba High School.

PDF in collaboration with the Chalinze District Commissioners office collected sanitation baseline data of which informed participants that the current status of toilets in the district threatens the resident’s livelihood.

PDF Project Coordinator stated that the impact of having poor toilets or having no latrines at all to some households and having unacceptable health and hygiene practices will likely cause water borne-diseases like cholera, typhoid fever and bacillus dysentery.

According to him, this does not affect only individuals’ lives but it also affects the country’s economy at large.

Mr Lukoa was on Monday transferred to Wanging’ombe municipal council in the latest appointments by President John Magufuli and in his place comes Amina Mohammed Kiwanuka.

“Despite having scored well in other areas, we have performed poorly in terms of sanitation and toilet use. We are ranked as the last in Coast Region and we were rated at 171st nationwide. This is rather unacceptable,” he said.

In order to achieve the September 1 deadline, the Mr Lukoa called upon the authorities to mobilise residents of the district to make sure that they build modern toilets.

He also urged authorities to enforce bylaws on the use of modern latrines and make follow-up on construction of the improved latrines in their wards since the resources are present otherwise they should relinquish their positions. “We should have the right kind of statistics regarding this initiative because without which this whole effort would go to waste,” he said when instructing Ward Executive Officers to be at the forefront.

Toilets remain a critical issue in Tanzania as the coverage of improved latrines remains low with many homes and public places lacking proper toilets despite the health and sanitation hazard that the situation poses to the community. To date, five in 10 Tanzanians continue to use unsanitary latrines - the majority being simple pits that are not easy to keep clean.

Whereas they provide limited privacy, they do not break the chain of transmission of germs that cause several serious illnesses such as diarrhoea. It is also estimated that about 5 million Tanzanians do not use latrines at all. They relieve themselves in the bushes or lakes.

National Bureau of Statistic findings of 2016 puts the number between 16 and 19 per cent as those who have access to quality toilets in Tanzania whereas some 15 to 30 per cent use soap to wash their hands after easing themselves

A national campaign that targets to change community behavior on the use of quality toilets among Tanzanian communities kicked off in Morogoro in April 2018 under the theme ‘Usichukulie Poa’ (Don’t take it for granted) an initiative that brings together several stake holders in the health, development and sanitation sector.

In June Members of Parliament led by Tanzania Women parliamentary Group (TWPG) held a special fundraising drive to raise Sh3.5 billion meant for construction of model toilets in all the 264 constituencies across the country.