Massive sanitation services proposed for Namibia

Open defecation - which occurs in 14% of Namibia’s urban areas and 77% of its rural areas - increases the spread of diseases and majorly impacts public health.Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) president McHenry Venaani said this in a motion to the National Assembly to debate the provision of massive sanitation services to urban and rural areas.He said the country is facing a massive sanitation crisis, with World Bank statistics showing that only one in four Namibians have access to sanitation facilities.“This means that they are forced to defecate in the open, which exposes them to serious health risks.”Venaani added that according to the Borgen Project, only 34% of Namibians have access to improved sanitation facilities, and this drops to 14% in rural areas.Less than half of the country’s 2.5 million people use facilities that safely separate waste from human contact, he said.Hepatitis E outbreakVenaani pointed out that open defecation caused a Hepatitis E outbreak in 2017.Starting in Windhoek, the disease spread to more than half of the country’s regions.These rates cannot be attributed to a lack of political will, but rather poor coordination, lack of accountability and spreading efforts and resources too thinly, he said.“While the government of the day has poured over hundreds of millions of dollars into sanitation in recent years, these projects have been marred by maladministration.”Venaani said, by government’s own admission, sanitation has stalled in recent years and the various ministries tasked with improving the status quo have each failed to prioritise the sector.He highlighted that the urban and rural development ministry has missed its goals four out of the last five years.“The ministry stated it will build 10 000 new toilets in rural areas by the year 2021, but it only completed 980 before declaring that 1 000 was the initial goal and the 10 000 target had been erroneously indicated.”The PDM leader further noted that the agriculture and water ministry has seen its water supply and sanitation coordination budget cut by 72%.A toilet for every family“This motion recommends that the government adopt PDM’s policy and realise the potential of a Namibian society where every family has a toilet.”Venaani said that instead of communal ablution facilities - which are not only a breeding ground for disease, but are also unsustainable and unsafe - Namibia should move towards providing individual or family toilets which can also be more sustainable.His motion further recommends that government consider the construction of dry sanitation facilities such as no-flush toilets, as they are better alternatives for areas where water is scarce and can also be used with septic systems.

Massive sanitation services proposed for Namibia

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-07

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Massive sanitation services proposed for Namibia

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-07

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