BY FRIDAY SIMBAYA
As the country celebrates climax of the national sanitation week today in Njombe Region, the public is reminded that use of soap to wash hands remains very low as does the availability of improved toilet facilities.
The National Sanitation Week combines Global Hand-Washing Day and World Toilet day and has been observed as of November 15 –19.
Speaking during the official opening of a capacity training for journalists on covering sanitation matters, the Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), Wamoja Ayubu said a total of 201, 120 households (89 per cent) have toilets in Iringa but only 17 percent have improved toilets.
“Hand washing with soap is only at nine percent,” she decried.
On her part, Khadija Haroun a health officer for Iringa said about 1.8 million people die every year worldwide due to diarrhea and 760,000 children under five years of age die every year from diarrhea related diseases.
“In Tanzania, about 30,000 people die each year from diarrhea,” she said.
"About 60 to 80 per cent of all out patients l have diseases caused by lack of water and sanitation," she added and went on to urge citizens to wash fruits before eating and to always wash hands with soap and clean water after using the toilet.
She said over 60% of schools in the country do not have improved toilet facilities and very few have hand washing points and sanitation facilities for pupils with disabilities are rarely provided and that teachers and other staff suffer the same plight.
It is expected that the National Sanitation Campaign (NSC) will reach 1.52 million households in a span of four years and 812 schools will be provided with improved toilet facilities and hand washing points.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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