Villages free from open defecation
A special programme which allows communities to assess their own needs and build their own sanitation infrastructure is reaping rewards.
Three more villages in the Eenhana constituency have been declared free from open defecation.
This status was achieved through the application of the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach.
The programme is rolled out by the agriculture ministry and its implementing partners the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and the Namibia Red Cross Society (NRCS), and is also supported by the health and urban and rural development ministries and the Ohangwena regional council.
Eenyama, Okakango Konduda and Ondilinawa will celebrate being declared free from open defecation today and tomorrow.
According to agriculture ministry permanent secretary Percy Misika the three villages, which consist of 100 households, will be recognised for achieving this status.
This recognition follows Ondingwanyama village last year, which was the first village in Namibia to be declared free from open defecation.
According to Misika an event will held to advocate among policy stakeholders and to ensure support in all aspects of the open-defecation-free protocol.
It will also aim to acknowledge, recognise and reward the villages for their efforts to achieve the status, and show that the elimination of open defecation is possible when communities take a leading role.
Furthermore, it will create a platform for learning, sharing experiences and enhancing sanitation ownership and trans-generational behaviour change by communities.
Misika said the aim of the CLTS approach is to create open-defecation-free communities through the empowerment of communities to conduct their own sanitation appraisals and analysis, and take their own actions such as building their own toilet facilities and using them.
“Once a community has embraced the approach and has according to its self-assessment attained open-defecation-free status, it declares itself open-defecation-free.” Misika said an independent verification and certification process is then carried out in accordance with the Namibian protocol. After the satisfactory completion of the verification and certification process, a celebration of attaining the status is held in the community. According to a Unicef fact sheet produced in 2015, at 34%, the country has one of the lowest levels of sanitation coverage in southern Africa, a situation that has not improved since 2006. It said, in addition, that close to half of all Namibians practice open defecation, a rate that is one of the highest in Africa, behind Somalia and South Sudan.
“Inequities in access to proper sanitation facilities are also glaring between rural and urban areas. In fact, the majority of people in rural areas have no choice but to defecate in the open, a practice that is highly unsanitary and harmful to health,” Unicef said. Open defecation causes cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, diarrhoea, worm infestation, reduced physical growth, impaired cognitive function and malnutrition.
Young children pay the price for poor sanitation. When they drink contaminated water, they get sick and quickly malnourished. Unicef said in Namibia, 17% of children under five suffer from diarrhoea and repeated episodes of the disease contribute to the country's high levels of childhood stunting. Research in 2013 and 2014 showed that communities in Namibia have not been adequately involved in improving sanitation in their areas, despite the existence of the national sanitation strategy that encourages community participation in finding sustainable solutions. The CLTS approach was introduced in Namibia in 2014 to eliminate open defecation.
This status was achieved through the application of the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach.
The programme is rolled out by the agriculture ministry and its implementing partners the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and the Namibia Red Cross Society (NRCS), and is also supported by the health and urban and rural development ministries and the Ohangwena regional council.
Eenyama, Okakango Konduda and Ondilinawa will celebrate being declared free from open defecation today and tomorrow.
According to agriculture ministry permanent secretary Percy Misika the three villages, which consist of 100 households, will be recognised for achieving this status.
This recognition follows Ondingwanyama village last year, which was the first village in Namibia to be declared free from open defecation.
According to Misika an event will held to advocate among policy stakeholders and to ensure support in all aspects of the open-defecation-free protocol.
It will also aim to acknowledge, recognise and reward the villages for their efforts to achieve the status, and show that the elimination of open defecation is possible when communities take a leading role.
Furthermore, it will create a platform for learning, sharing experiences and enhancing sanitation ownership and trans-generational behaviour change by communities.
Misika said the aim of the CLTS approach is to create open-defecation-free communities through the empowerment of communities to conduct their own sanitation appraisals and analysis, and take their own actions such as building their own toilet facilities and using them.
“Once a community has embraced the approach and has according to its self-assessment attained open-defecation-free status, it declares itself open-defecation-free.” Misika said an independent verification and certification process is then carried out in accordance with the Namibian protocol. After the satisfactory completion of the verification and certification process, a celebration of attaining the status is held in the community. According to a Unicef fact sheet produced in 2015, at 34%, the country has one of the lowest levels of sanitation coverage in southern Africa, a situation that has not improved since 2006. It said, in addition, that close to half of all Namibians practice open defecation, a rate that is one of the highest in Africa, behind Somalia and South Sudan.
“Inequities in access to proper sanitation facilities are also glaring between rural and urban areas. In fact, the majority of people in rural areas have no choice but to defecate in the open, a practice that is highly unsanitary and harmful to health,” Unicef said. Open defecation causes cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, diarrhoea, worm infestation, reduced physical growth, impaired cognitive function and malnutrition.
Young children pay the price for poor sanitation. When they drink contaminated water, they get sick and quickly malnourished. Unicef said in Namibia, 17% of children under five suffer from diarrhoea and repeated episodes of the disease contribute to the country's high levels of childhood stunting. Research in 2013 and 2014 showed that communities in Namibia have not been adequately involved in improving sanitation in their areas, despite the existence of the national sanitation strategy that encourages community participation in finding sustainable solutions. The CLTS approach was introduced in Namibia in 2014 to eliminate open defecation.
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