Call to operationalise endorsed sanitation policy

The government has been asked to avail the National Sanitation policy that was coined few years ago for smooth implementation of various health and social projects countrywide.

 

Tanzania Water and Sanitation Network (Tawasanet) board chairman Eng. Wilhelmina Malima said this on Wednesday during a two-day Water Sanitation and Hygiene(WASH) Media workshop.

 

She said stakeholders had already aired their views on what the policy should contain in order to save Tanzanians from various problems.

 

“We ask the government to release the policy which is of great importance in helping reduce or minimize various challenges facing people in water and sanitation,” she said.

 

She said lack of a policy meant that there was no framework to guide operations and investments in the sanitation subsector.

 

According to her, the policy would set out roles and responsibilities for institutional, public and household sanitation.

Explaining further, she said the poor state of water supply and sanitation facilities in schools was a major factor for declining class attendance by students and their inability to learn.

 

She said if schools had access to safe water and sanitation they could boost their health, hence improve school attendance and pupils’ ability to learn.

 

“Better access to safe water, including supplies at schools, reduces time spent in collecting water and in turn, increases time for education,“ she said.

 

Malima said lack of privacy and safety for girls needing toilets discouraged a number of them from attending schools.

“Many girls do not go to school because of lack of sanitation and water, particularly during their menstruation period,“ she said.

 

Speaking at the same event, Dr Hamis Malebo from National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) said more efforts were needed to make sure that all hospitals have enough water and sanitation facilities.

 

“If we want to reduce neonatal deaths among our children, the government and private sector should invest more on sanitation and hygiene in hospitals,” he said.

 

He said there is a need to support the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s wider plans to improve quality of care in health facilities through an assessment of availability, quality and coverage of water supply, sanitation infrastructure, hand washing facilities and hygienic practices.

 

A research carried by the organization last year to over 60 hospitals in seven districts in Tanzania showed that they face a huge problem in sanitation and hygiene.

 

Tanzania is one of the countries which have committed themselves to attaining Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims at ensure access to safe drinking water and sanitation to all by 2030.