Kenyans are dying of filth
A sewage system project under construction at Langas Estate in Eldoret town on August 13, 2013. Most plots in the densely populated estate are not served with sanitary services and depend on pit latrines. PHOTO : Jared Nyataya/NATION
What you need to know:
- 5.6 million Kenyans have no toilets whatsoever and are forced to help themselves in the bush.
It is a crying shame that 50 years after independence, at least 21 million Kenyans do not have toilet facilities of their own and they have to share with neighbours, while 5.6 million have no toilets whatsoever and are forced to help themselves in the bush.
A study commissioned by the government’s Environmental Health Department with the support of the World Bank concluded that 19 out of the 47 counties need to act on the issue of hygiene and sanitation.
Obviously, county governments are not expected to dig latrines for individual homesteads, but since they will eventually have to bear the cost in terms of lost time due to ailments like diarrhoea — which keep people out of work — or the more lethal cholera which annually afflicts 3,500 people, these governments have to take drastic measures.
The immediate solution is to launch a campaign to ensure people in rural areas dig pit latrines, while budgets are set aside to build communal lavatories in towns and shopping centres.
No Kenyan should be dying of filth in this day and age. We must get our priorities right.
