The report released this week in Agago District reveals a great stride towards reduction in open defecation in the two sub-counties that have for long remained epicentres of unhygienic practices.
43 villages in two sub-counties, Agago District have been declared
free of open defecation. The declaration follows a community-led sanitation
baseline survey conducted in 100 villages in the sub-counties of Arum and Omot
between April 2020 and July this year.
The survey that targeted some 5,076 households was conducted by
Soroti Rural Development Agency (SORUDA), a local NGO that focuses on
strengthening the capacities of rural marginalized communities.
The report released this week in Agago District reveals a great stride towards
reduction in open defecation in the two sub-counties that have for long
remained epicentres of unhygienic practices.
During the period of the survey, a total of 3,046 households in the selected
villages were found with no access to pit latrines and residents were still practicing open defecation.
However, in the report released, latrine coverage had slightly
improved with now only 2,030 households lacking access to Latrines.
Agago District Health Inspector Sam Okiror says that although 71 villages had
made self-claim of having ended open defecation, only 43 were verified and
declared free from the vice by the district team.
He notes that about 12 villages have also been verified but the results are
still pending declaration.
//cue in: “Apparently about 71…
Cue out:…of the 12.”//
Okiror, however, says despite the positive development, many households within
the trading centres especially in Omot and Arum Sub counties still have no
latrines.
//cue in: “one of the…
Cue out:…for their tenants.”//
Agago District Chief Administrative Officer, Stephen Oloya advises stakeholders
to engage themselves in health participatory activities to minimize some of the
rare hygiene-related sicknesses in the community.
He says many people blame health workers for the shortage of drugs
in facilities forget that some sickness is due to poor hygiene and
malnutrition.
The Water and Environment Sector Performance Report 2020 indicates that 22
percent of the rural population were still practicing open defecation while
12.1 percent were still practicing open defecation in urban areas.
According to a 2019 Health Ministry report, the national latrine coverage in
the country has increased from 49% in 1997 to 79% in 2018 and only 10% of the
population was still living in Open Defecation Free communities by end of 2018.
A study carried out by the Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) reveals that
Uganda loses 389 billion shillings annually due to poor sanitation.
