WTD: RSG Recommits To End Open Defecation

As Rivers State joins the rest of the world to celebrate World Toilet Day,General Manager of the Rivers State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA),Mr Napoleon Adah, says the agency is working hard to stop the practice of  open defecation in the state.
Napoleon who spoke to The Tide against the backdrop of the celebration said the agency is also working with some local goverment areas  especially in the riverine areas of the state to check the trend.
He said RUWASSA has embarked on massive sensitisation programm across the state on the need for an end to open defecation.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says  over 1.5 million people die annually from diarrhoea.
Director General of the organisation, Ghebreyesus Tedros also said one in five people doesn’t have access to a toilet, and almost one in two lack safe sanitation services.
He told The Tide source that  more than 1.5 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases including Cholera, which it said: “is resurging alarmingly in many countries”.
The WHO Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, disclosed this Saturday night in a message to commemorate World Toilet Day (WTD).
He added that one in five people does not have access to a toilet, and almost one in two lack safe sanitation services.
Speaking further, he said: “health systems also struggle with the burden of increasingly resistant infections, girls drop out of school, and economies suffer.
“Today in the lead up to the UN 2023 conference on the water we’re launching the countdown to 2030 calling for a fourfold acceleration on sanitation.”
Sanitation in Africa
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, also revealed that 779 million people in Africa lack essential sanitation services.
Ms Moeti said this in a press statement commemorating the 2022 WTD with the theme: ‘Sanitation and Groundwater,’ adding that 208 million still practice open defecation.
She said, “Access to safely managed sanitation services, in combination with safely managed drinking water services and good hygiene
The WHO Africa boss added that “Africa must work on average four times faster to ensure everyone has a safe toilet by 2030 as the connection between sanitation and groundwater cannot be overlooked.”
She added that densely populated urban settings, pit latrines and septic tanks sited close to waterpoints that draw from shallow aquifers creates potentially serious health risks.
“For women and girls, in particular, toilets at home, school, and at work help them fulfil their potential and play their full role in society, especially during menstruation and pregnancy.
“The indignity, inconvenience, and danger of not having access to safely managed sanitation is a barrier to their full participation in society.
“Toilets drive improvements in health, gender equality, education, economics, and the environment,” she noted.
Ms Moeti also suggested that the link between groundwater and sanitation needs to be strengthened through inclusive policy and coordinated implementation.
“Thus, cooperation between policymakers, water resource, sanitation specialists and practitioners should be increased,” she said.
World Toilet day is celebrated 19 th of November every year.

By: John Bibor