In Arua, latrines are a luxury

A health inspector assesses the condition of a makeshift pit-latrine in Arua Municipality. Below, left: A houses in Gurua Cell, Arua Municipality that lacks proper drainage. PHOTO BY CLEMENT ALUMA

What you need to know:

Worrying situation. Despite calls by municipal health officials on digging pit-latrines, coverage remains very low.

Arua.

Mr Joseph Ogua and his family of four members, use flying toilets (polythene bags) to dispose of waste, especially at night.
The 64-year-old resident of Gurua Cell in Arua Municipality says pit-latrines are expensive to construct.

“For sure, sinking a new latrine needs about Shs800,000 which money I don’t have. But we sometimes use the flying toilet (polythene bags) as we call it here. It is disposed at night in a distant area,” he argues.
The situation in Mr Ogua’s home is one common in many households in Arua Municipality.

Fears of cholera
In Oli Division, the latrine coverage remains low despite campaigns by health officials for residents to build the sanitary facilities.
With the rains back, there is worry the cholera-prone area might have another outbreak of the disease.
Statistics from the health department indicates that last year, two people died of cholera and 14 others were left hospitalised in Oli Division.

Ms Sauda Ali, who says her family shares a pit-latrine with the neighbour says sometimes people pool money to construct the facilities, but still, many find it expensive.
“It is a costly venture. My family shares the pit-latrine with a neighbour. Besides, there is no much land to sink a latrine,” she says.

Areas with the worst sanitation and low pit-latrine coverage are Gurua, Congo and Chongaloya cells in Arua Hill Division as well as Upper Bibia and Swalia in Oli Division.
A survey by Act Together and Uganda Slum Dwellers Federation in 2010 on the slum areas in Arua Municipality notes that there are few flash toilets that empty into a septic tank but most families use pit latrines for the disposal of human waste.
The report adds that there are no drainage systems and waste water flows freely on the settlement paths thus, posing a danger to residents.

For instance, Upper Bibia with a population of about 3,390 residents and over 624 households has about 280 pit-latrines.
The Municipal Health Officer, Dr Paul Onzubo, says: “We always give notice of 45 days for people without latrines to construct them. And after that, we either take them to court or close their homes and they have to move back to their villages. In a current survey, we found 30 households without latrines.”

A resident of Oli Division, Ms Josephine Ajiga, says other than lack of pit-latrines, uncollected garbage and severe water cuts, force many families to fetch unclean water from shallow wells.
“We have to live in rented houses which are affordable and sometimes you rent with hope that the landlord may provide a pit-latrine even from the money you pay. But sometimes he fails to do so. And this forces you to stay and cope with the situation,” she says.

Worrying statistics
Statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicates that worldwide, 2.4 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation: they lack safe means of disposal of excreta and waste water.
WHO recommends that improving sanitation can be as simple as installing a well-designed ventilated improved pit latrine or composting latrine.

In 2009, the tests on water quality by municipal health authorities revealed that 97 per cent of water sources like boreholes and River Enyau are contaminated.
Downstream from the spot where many youth swim, young women from the settlement draw water for drinking and car washing from the river that was widely condemned by the National Environment Management Authority continues unabated.