BEKWARRA (CROSS RIVER) – Mr Paul Ushie, Local Technical Officer, Concern Universal, a private organisation, on Thursday urged Local Government authorities to accept responsibility for
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]environmental sanitation to prevent outbreak of epidemic in their communities.
Ushie spoke at the ongoing monitoring mission of the Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) programme in Bekwarra Local Government Area, Cross River.
According to him, sanitation is a big issue and it could not be left alone for the Federal or State Government to handle.
Ushie said practices of open defecation had been known to be the leading cause of faecal-oral transmission of diseases, saying people needed to cultivate the habit of hand washing after using the toilets.
He said the importance of toilets in a household could not be over-emphasised, as it reduced incidences of individuals consuming their faeces.
“When we say people eat their shit, what we mean is that when they defecate openly, flies perch on them and carry it to the food substances.
“So it is very important for every household to resolve to have a toilet, and enable it to meet the Open-Defecation Free (ODF) criteria,” Ushie said.
He said that the organisation was working to ensure that more communities were certified ODF, through the practice of hand washing with water, soap or ash, and construction of fly-proof latrines among others.
Ushie noted that members of some communities complained of water as a challenge for not using their toilets.
He, however, added that efforts were on to continue to sensitise them on benefits of water so as to reduce open defecation.
Ushie said that implementing the Community-Led Total Sanitation programme in all communities had a greater advantage in reducing preventable deaths, which affected mostly women and children.
Earlier, the team visited the Head, Local Government Administration, Bekwarra, Mr Paulinus Adie, who commended the team and donor agencies on their intervention programmes in the state.
Adie said the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) programme had put money into the pockets of community members, because it had reduced illnesses and hospital visits.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Concern Universal is the executing agency of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council programme.
It works to improve access to sustainable sanitation, water and hygiene for all people. (NAN)
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