Will Africa Meet Its Sanitation Target?

More than 600 million Africans still lack access to safe sanitation. This will ultimately determine the well-being of the continent.

- Kitch Bawa

OF THE 1.2 billion inhabitants in Africa, more than 600 million lack access to safe sanitation. It is a serious problem as the lack of it affects the level of education, economic development and the overall health and well-being of people. The immediate casualties are children under five years. Besides, the discomfort associated with poor sanitation access and its impact on malnourishment is hard to imagine. Economically, lack of sanitation has a direct impact on the gross domestic product. The World Health Organization says millions of schooldays are lost due to poor sanitation in Africa and other parts of the developing and underdeveloped world.

Thus, there is an obligation for the world as well as for Africa to unite to tackle the bottlenecks in improved sanitation access. This is an urgent call for action, given that the continent has made the least progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on sanitation. For Africa to make any significant progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 6 on sanitation by 2030, countries must adopt a new approach. Goal 6 states that access to safe water and sanitation and sound management of freshwater ecosystems are essential to human health, environmental sustainability and economic prosperity.

ON THE PATH OF COMMITMENT