Look Beyond The Loo

In fast-urbanising Africa, the governments must rework their usual toilet building strategies to ensure safe disposal of waste.

- Sunita Narain

OVER A decade ago, when the world began discussing targets for sanitation the idea seemed simple—build toilets and people will use them. When the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set in 2000 came to an end in 2015, over 2 billion people had gained access to improved sanitation. But nearly 2.6 billion people still had no or poor sanitation facilities—it was the world’s unfinished agenda. The Sustainable Development Goals, which succeeded MDGs, have now set an ambitious global goal to completely get rid of this wicked problem—by 2030 all citizens of the world must have access to clean water and improved sanitation. India (particularly, the laggard states of Odisha, Bihar, Goa, Tripura, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh) and Africa hold the key to this transition. So, where are we today?

The past two decades have taught the world some crucial stuff. Firstly, it is clear that toilets do not equal safe sanitation. The faecal matter, if excreted into a poorly made pit in the ground or a latrine connected to an open drain (as is the case in most places) will contaminate the environment and add to the health burden. So, if toilets must lead to the benefits that they are designed to do—reduce waterborne diseases, improve nutrition of children and increase productivity—then sanitation has to be approached differently. The toilet has to be built with provisions for management of human excreta. The toilet must also be built with provision for water. Once again, if people cannot wash hands or clean the toilet then it will add to the health burden. This is the toilet+ strategy.