The Government in collaboration with partners has stepped up efforts to completely eradicate the practice of open defecation in the country by the end of 2025, officials said Wednesday.
They said about 5 million Kenyans still practice open defecation, 85 percent of whom are domiciled in 15 counties, and that strategies had been put in place to have them declared open defecation free (ODF) by the end of 2025.
This, they said, was being done through the Kenya Sanitation Alliance (KSA), which was launched in 2021 with the aim of eliminating open defecation in Kenya by 2025 through a combination of policy interventions, community engagement and infrastructure development.
The 15 counties identified as having the highest rates of open defecation are Baringo, Garissa, Homabay, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kilifi, Kwale, Mandera, Marsabit, Narok, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir and West Pokot.
Senior health officials from the 15 high burden counties led by their County Health Executives and officials Ministry of Water and Sanitation and development partners UNICEF, USAID and AMREF among others, congregated at a Malindi hotel under the auspices of KSA to deliberating on the how to eradicate the vice.
Mr. Daniel Kurao from Amref Health Africa in Kenya said many partners had come together under the Kenya Sanitation Alliance to eradicate the sanitation burden in the 15 counties where 85 percent of the ten percent of Kenyans practicing open defecation come from.
“We come together because we see a burden that in Kenya, ten percent of those that are doing open defecation, is a big number, about 5 million out of which 85 percent are in these 15 counties,” he said noting the ODF is the major cause of diarrhoeal diseases.
“This is the major problem that we see in very young children appearing through diarrhoea; it is a problem in terms of stunting among young children; it is a problem also in schools, and we come today because addressing sanitation the Republic of Kenya allows us to improve educational and health outcomes as well as economic performance.
He said the Kenya Sanitation Alliance had had great progress, noting that from 2021 the alliance had been able to declare close to 5,000 Kenyan villages open defecation free, with a target of achieving 100m percent by the end of 2025.
“This is a drive that we are asking Kenyans to address sanitation and hygiene in our communities, in our schools, in our institutions since it is a responsibility of everybody right from the household to the institutions and all of us.
Mr. Kurao said county governments in the 15 high burden counties had committed close to Sh172 million towards sanitation.
Ms Beverly Mademba from the United States Agency for International Development (USIAD) Kenya said her organization had put close to 100 million US Dollars into Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) investments spread across different projects including the Kenya Sanitation Enabling Environment Project (K-SEEP).
Kilifi Deputy Governor Florah Chibule said through the Kenya Saniation Alliance, three out of the county’s seven sub counties had been declared open defecation free and that efforts were being made to completely eradicate open defecation in the remaining four.
She said sensitization programmes were in top gear to ensure no village in the county is left behind in terms of building toilets and pit latrines in order to eradicate communicable diseases by concentrating on preventing rather than curative healthcare.
The County Executive Committee Member in charge of Health and Sanitation, Mr. Peter Mwarogo, said the implementation of two World Bank-funded multi-million-shilling sludge recycling projects in Sabaki and Mayungu areas of Malindi town were at advanced stages and would greatly improve sanitation in the tourist resort town when complete.
Kwale Health DECM Dr. Francis Gwama and his Tana River counterpart Joshua Jarha said although their counties were still lagging behind in sanitation expressed confidence that through the sensitization carried out by the Kenya Sanitation Alliance, they would achieve ODF by the end of 2025.
Jarha said efforts to achieve the feat had however had been frustrated by frequent flooding which usually wash away toilets, leading to cholera outbreaks.
