SANITATION DRIVE LAUDABLE BUT MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE
What you need to know:
- The objective is to encourage individuals in particular and households generally to use improved toilets as a matter of course.
Efforts to improve household sanitation standards countrywide through initiatives implemented by the government and other stakeholders are gaining momentum, with positive results having been recorded so far.
The objective is to encourage individuals in particular and households generally to use improved toilets as a matter of course. This would in the long run greatly reduce transmission of communicable diseases that still pose a major threat to society, especially children under the age of five.
It is encouraging to note that 72 percent of households in Tanzania now use improved toilets, up from 39 percent five years ago.
Indeed, there are costs involved here, but these are just a small fraction of the huge cost the country incurs in treating patients who are victims of cholera, typhoid and other diseases resulting from poor sanitation.
In a society that is fast embracing modernity, it is inconceivable and worrisome that a section of the Tanzanian population, however small, still practises open defecation.
According to Health minister Ummy Mwalimu, open defecation in Tanzania has decreased from 5.75 percent in 2012 to 1.4 percent in 2021. With proper education and other remedial measures, it should not be too difficult to eliminate open defecation in Tanzania in the next few years.
The World Health Organisation estimates that some 842,000 people worldwide die annually from diarrhoeal and related diseases that are otherwise preventable through interventions such as safe human waste disposal and hand-washing. About 361,000 out of the deaths are of children under the age of five.
Furthermore, half of global malnutrition and a quarter of stunting in children are due to waterborne diseases, including chronic diarrhoea. Diarrhoea alone is responsible for 17 per cent of global disability.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals have sparked renewed focus on what strategies need to be adopted to achieve universal access to safe water and basic sanitation by 2030.
IT’S THE RIGHT MOVE ON SCIENCE
The government’s promise to continue working on strategies aimed at encouraging more female students to pursue science subjects in higher learning institutions is heartening. The government is on record saying that it is giving special consideration to girls seeking science studies, including ensuring that they have accommodation on campus.
This is the way to go because with more women in science, Tanzania will be able to strengthen the foundation for a semi-industrialised, middle-income economy.
Besides, boosting female student numbers pursuing science courses would also go far in bridging the gender inequality gaps at all levels, what with women science graduates putting their collective shoulder to the development wheel, and their nose to the grindstone in seeking to achieve the nation’s development goals.
But more still needs to be done to ensure that young girls find science subjects attractive at the primary level. Catching them young will produce better results than waiting until they get to high level.
Schools need to raise awareness, and the government must ensure the availability of science teachers and laboratory equipment.
