World Toilet Day Highlights Sanitation Solutions
Tuesday marked World Toilet Day, the annual attempt to push the issue of open defecation back into the spotlight and highlight the preventable illnesses that are caused by what is still a very common practice in Cambodia, which has the lowest toilet coverage in Southeast Asia. Defecating in the open contaminates local water sources and causes a significant rural public health risk including diarrhea and stunting in children, and though the government has set a target of universal access to toilets by 2025, currently just 28 percent of the rural population has access to a latrine, according to the most recent figures by the World Health Organization. … In Cambodia, sanitation NGO WaterSHED’s “Hands-Off” project is experimenting with a market-based approach to the sanitation problem, encouraging villagers to buy latrines themselves rather than donating toilets. … WaterSHED uses local sales agents to spike demand by educating villagers about the health benefits of buying a latrine and the cost benefits of not getting sick, while local village chiefs are setting an example by investing in their own toilets—50,000 latrines have been installed across seven provinces over the past two years as a result of the program. …
Simon Henderson and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-toilet-day-highlights-sanitation-solutions-47393/
