Stakeholders call on govt to implement sanitation policy with immediate effect

The government has been asked to release the long-awaited National Sanitation policy that was formulated a few years ago to enable smooth implementation of various health and social projects countrywide.

 

This was said last week in Dar es Salaam by the chairperson of the Board of Directors of Tanzania Water and Sanitation Network (Tawasanet), Eng Wilhelmina Malima, during a two-day Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Media workshop. 

 

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

 

“We call upon the government to implement the policy, which is of great importance because it would help minimise various challenges facing people on water and sanitation,” she observed.

 

She said absence of the policy meant that there was no framework to guide operations and investment in the sanitation sub-sector. 

 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 facilitied in schools was a major factor in the declining number of pupils attending classes and their ability to learn.

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

 

“Better access to safe water, including supply at school, reduces time spent collecting the crucial resource which in turn increases time for education, “she noted. 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 menstruation period,” she said.

 

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

 

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

 

He said there was 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 out by the organisation last year in over 60 hospitals in seven districts in Tanzania showed that they face a huge problem in relation to sanitation and hygiene.

 

Tanzania is one of the countries that has committed itself to attaining the Sustainable Development Goal  6 which aims at ensuring access to safe drinking water and sanitation to all  by 2030.

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