Environment Day: Group wants increased awareness on dangers of open defecation

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As the World Commemorates the 2019 World Environment Day on Wednesday, Safe Toilet (SATO) Nigeria has called for increased awareness on the dangers of open defecation to humans and environment.

Mr Michael Adegbe, the company’s Business Development Leader, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that SATO aimed to advocate and encourage low-income earners to build and use toilets in order to end open defecation.

Adegbe noted that open defecation often led to pollution of the limited sources of drinking water leaving it unusable and unhygienic; as well as land degradation.

According to him, precious resources are being rapidly exhausted due to lack of awareness on the hazards of open defecation on the environment.

National growth LS

He therefore, advocated the use of SATO toilet systems in the country, which according to him not only prevents land degradation, but also saves water by use of one litre per flush.

He said that SATO had begun mass production of an affordable toilet hardware known as SATO PAN, for low-income earners, and for as low as N1, 500, which also had an advantage of using less water.

“The pan is dedicated to consumers in developing countries without access to modern plumbing infrastructure, as it utilises an air-tight trap door to minimise odours.

“The trap door also prevents the transmission of diseases by blocking flying insects,” he said.

He said it was bad for the image of Nigeria to be rated number two behind India in top countries practicing open defecation.

“Bangladesh left the list, becoming open defecation-free following the introduction of Sato Pans.

“It is a way of modernising pit latrines as it helps to promote healthy lives at an affordable price,’’ Adegbe said.

According to him, the toilets will curb the high rate of faecal-oral transmission of diseases, thereby reducing incidences of preventable deaths and diseases, especially among young persons.

He noted that poor sanitation was a leading cause of child mortality, saying that a large number of children still died from diarrheal diseases caused by lack of hygienic water and sanitary conditions.

Adegbe said that these indices led to the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which called for access to water and sanitation.

He said that access to proper sanitation and clean water was vital for the health and safety of growing populations in both urban and rural areas.

“When human faeces are not disposed, it can cause myriads of health problems,’’ he said.

Adegbe commended the efforts of some development partners who had shown commitment to sanitation marketing, stressing that its importance at scaling up sanitation and hygiene promotion could not be over-emphasised.

According to the Joint Monitoring Progress Report from the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), no fewer than 23 billion people globally lack access to improved sanitation.

It also stated that 946 million persons practice open defecation.

The report said that poor sanitation was linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio.

This year’s World Environment Day has as theme: “Beat Air Pollution’’.

The day is marked every June 5, to create awareness on the causes of air pollution and its harmful effects to human health. (NAN)

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