Kenya loses Sh27bn annually due to poor sanitation- Report
Kenya loses Sh27 billion each year due to poor sanitation, according to a World Bank report on water and sanitation.
According to the Water and Sanitation Program report, 21 million Kenyans, more than half the population use unsanitary or shared latrines while 5.6 million others have no latrines at all and are forced to defecate in the open.
The report notes that open defecation costs the economy Sh7.3 billion every year yet eliminating the practice would require less than 1.2 million latrines to be built and used.
The study established that the majority (75 percent) of these costs are as a result of the premature deaths of 23,000 Kenyans every year from diarrhoeal disease.
Children below the age of five account for the bulk of these premature deaths, which are directly attributable to poor water, sanitation, and hygiene.
“We’ve known for some time about the impact of poor sanitation on health, but this is one of the first studies to quantify the annual costs incurred because of poor sanitation,” said Yolande Coombes, senior water and sanitation specialist with WSP.
“Kenya will not be able to grow sustainably without addressing these costs.”
Kenya is among 18 African countries included in the study. Those countries, which account for more than half of Africa’s population, incur combined economic losses of about $5.5 billion a year due to inadequate sanitation
The report comes ahead of a high level meeting that will bring together some 60 ministers in charge of finance, sanitation and hygiene in Washington starting this weekend.
The meeting will agree on urgent action towards ensuring that access to sanitation and safe drinking water becomes a reality for the billions of people who still live without them.
"Our study finds that the heaviest burden of poor sanitation falls on poor people. These findings make an irresistible case for greater investment in sanitation while removing the barriers to better sanitation services.”
Each Kenyan who defecates in the open spends time amounting to nearly 2.5 days a year seeking a private location to relieve himself or herself, the study says.
Those lost hours represent $88 million in costs, the bank suggests, adding that this figure is likely to be an underestimate because “those without toilets, particularly women, will be obliged to find a private location for urination as well".
The report notes that Kenya currently invests no more than 0.5 percent of national income in sanitation, “which is lower than several estimates for what is required".
Faecal contamination is likewise the root cause of an annual average of 3,500 cases of cholera in Kenya. The response needed to prevent these outbreaks would cost about $2.2 million a year, according to the bank’s report.
