A ticking health time bomb looms in Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe (UMP) district, where over 120 000 people are still using the bush system, exposing themselves to various communicable diseases.
REPORT BY DALPHINE TAGWIREYI
Speaking at an event to mark the national sanitisation week and global hand-washing day at Uzumba Primary School last week, UMP district administrator, Mark Kadaira said out of the 26 002 households in the district, only 5 198 had toilets in their homes.
People in the district, he said, also faced water shortages, as there are very few water points.
“About 70% of the population in UMP is accessing safe water though they face challenges of continuous breakdowns of boreholes while in Chichetu village, the locals only have two water points and one of them is an unprotected water source,” said Kadaira.
The event, which was commemorated under the theme, Zero open defecation + hand-washing with soap or ash = diarrhoea free communities, was also attended by the Minister of Health and Child Care, David Parirenyatwa.
Parirenyatwa bemoaned open defecation as a menace to the environment that caused water, land and food pollution, resulting in cholera, typhoid, dysentery and diarrhoea.
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Minister of Health and Child Care, David Parirenyatwa said a multiple indicator survey carried out in 2009 painted a gloomy picture of Zimbabwe as 48% of rural households use the bush as a toilet, while 80% use untreated water for domestic purposes.
“We are encouraging villagers to build blair toilets so they can stop using the bush, as this will affect their unprotected water points in rainy seasons,” said Parirenyatwa.
He also noted that Zimbabwe would not achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7, which targets a 50% reduction of households without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
“There are challenges concerning finances, uncoordinated planning and implementation, to lack of meaningful community involvement and participation,” he said.
Unicef country representative, Reza Hossaini said that sporadic outbreaks of diarrhoea and typhoid remain a major challenge in some parts of Zimbabwe.
“Though blame is on ageing sanitation infrastructure and thinning coverage, the problem is more complicated, as it involves poor hygiene practices as well as open defecation,” he said.
Hossaini said the venue of the commemoration was suitable given that a large population in UMP is still using the forest as toilets.
“The fact that children have been exposed to this shows that promotion of hygiene is critical to them as they suffer most from diarrhoea and as they are powerful agents of behaviour and social change,” he said.
