Africa: Exploring the Water and Sanitation Crisis

Subsequent to my previous post about menstruation and sanitation in SSA, I have decided to dig deeper and explore the different ways the situation can be helped. This includes exploring the different types of menstrual products, and the implementation of programmes that increase awareness and education in hope of losing the widespread taboo.  Menstrual Products  Studies confirmed that the lack of access to menstrual products and private latrines was a major barrier for school attendance and engagement for young girls. Most girls resort to use cloths as absorbents which leak and ruin uniforms making girls feel ashamed and uncomfortable.  The most commonly used menstrual products are disposable pads due to the convenience and level of accessibility. They are widely available, prevent leakage and are easy to use and dispose of in the low-quality latrines in the schools and across SSA villages generally. Though the supply of may not always be reliable and is not a long-...

Hello again! Following last week’s post on World Toilet Day and the importance of adequately managed and safe toilets, as a woman I feel it is only right to discuss the matter concerning women and sanitation. I will be using a gendered lens to examine the ways in which young girls and women are disproportionality affected by the vulnerable and fragile sanitation services in sub-Saharan Africa.  Despite menstruation being a natural process, a taboo surrounding periods is still prevalent in many countries across the world particularly the global South. Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the fastest growing teenage girl populations, most of which have or will experience menstruation ( Ssewanyana et al. 2017 ). The stigma that exists around the topic of periods has led to negative attitudes and misinformation, having a negative impact on the dignity of these women. It is common across cultures in Africa for a woman who is on her period to be excluded from doing everyday activities such ...

As 'World Toilet Day 2022' is this weekend, I thought it would be best to focus this week's post on the importance of toilets as part of the sanitation crisis.  World Toilet Day (WTD) has been held annually since 2013 to raise awareness for the 3.6 billion people that are living with poor quality toilets which are detrimental to their health and environment . A part of the promise of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.2 is to 'end open defecation' by 2030 ( WHO ). This day is dedicated towards raising awareness to the fact that the world, despite being only 8 years from 2030, is far from being on track to achieving this goal ( WTD ). It's crazy to think that we currently live in a world where more people have access to a phone than to a safe toilet. The campaign of WTD 2022 is 'Making the invisible visible', to focus on the impact of the sanitation crisis on groundwater. Having inadequate sanitation systems leads to human waste contaminating rivers ...