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Shame of 4.5m Kenyans without toilet facilities in over ten counties

Health & Science
 One of the toilets used by police officers at Kigumo police station. A survey has shown one in every ten Kenyans has no toilet. [File, Standard]

Nearly one in every ten Kenyans has no toilet and is forced to find a bush or field to relieve themselves, a new survey has shown.

The Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS), 2015/16 which was released this week shows that almost half of the counties are below the national average, with some counties having more than 70 per cent of their populations without a toilet.

Though the situation may have changed today, in the financial year 2015/16, the data suggests that about 4.5 million people have to find a bush whenever pressed.

What is more shocking is that more than about 10 counties had more than 40 per cent of those interviewed having no facility.

Samburu County led the top ten counties with the worst record of no toilet facility, with 73.6 per cent of the respondents saying they used a bush or field. Samburu is followed by Turkana (64.9 per cent), Marsabit (52.2 per cent), West Pokot (51.2 per cent) and Kwale (47.5) per cent.

Other counties with more than 40 per cent include Garissa and Mandera, most of which are from the arid and semi-arid areas.

Residents of Nairobi, Kisii and Nyeri are the only ones that reported 100 per cent toilet facilities. Other counties with good access include Nyamira, Vihiga and Kakamega.

KIHBS was conducted over a 12-month period to obtain up-to-date data on a range of socio-economic indicators used to monitor the implementation of development initiatives.

Safe human waste disposal is crucial for human health and well-being of people as it reduces the spread of disease causing germs.

Human waste disposal facilities that are considered improved or adequate include those that have a connection to a main sewer line, septic tanks, ventilated improved pit latrine, pit latrine with slab and composting toilets.

Unimproved human waste disposal methods include flushing to other areas, using uncovered pit latrines or bucket toilets and open defecation.

The analysis did not factor the issue of sharing of sanitation facilities as a measure of adequacy.

The survey found that that 65.2 per cent of the households have access to improved methods of human waste disposal. About half of the households (50.8 per cent) in rural areas used unimproved sanitation compared to 13.2 per cent of their counterparts in urban areas.

The most common method of waste disposal in the country was pit latrine with slab, reported by slightly one third of the households.

Results from the survey show that 8.4 per cent of households had no toilet facilities. Lack of toilet facilities was more pronounced among households in rural areas (13.9 per cent) than those in urban (1.4 per cent).

Analysis by individuals shows that 59.3 per cent have access to improved sanitation facilities, which is 5.9 percentage points lower than that for households.

Shared Toilets

“Sharing of toilets among households exposes users to increased risks of contracting infectious diseases,” the survey, released on Thursday notes.

It indicates that 53.6 per cent of households shared toilets.

Sharing of toilets is common in urban areas (65.9 per cent) than in rural areas (42.6 per cent).

The other part of the survey looked at washing hands with soap and clean running water, which is an important control measure for reducing the spread of disease-causing germs.

Eight out of every ten people, or nearly 80 per cent of households in the country have no place for hand washing in or near the toilet.

The proportion of households with a place for washing hands is higher in urban areas (30.2 per cent) than in rural areas (13.2 per cent).

Across Kisii, Wajir, West Pokot and Makueni counties had less than 5 per cent of households each with a place for washing hands.

 Solid waste disposal

“Management of domestic waste disposal is an important aspect in keeping a clean environment,” the report notes.  

The survey collected information on disposal of solid waste generated from the households.

Nationally, 63.7 per cent of the households disposed off their waste by either dumping it in their compounds or burning it in open ground.

Results show that 3.7 per cent of households had their solid waste collected by county governments while 13.6 per cent had it collected by private entities.

The solid waste for more than ten per cent of households in Laikipia, Uasin Gishu, Kiambu and Machakos counties was collected by respective county governments.

Waste collection by community associations is most common in Nairobi City County (39.1 per cent), the report notes.

Ironically, the counties with the poorest access to toilets have some of the best statistics on home ownership in terms of people living in their own houses, despite being of inferior building material.

Analysis across counties shows that the proportion of households living in flats was highest in Nairobi City at 46.3 per cent followed by Kajiado at 20.1 per cent.

Swahili type of dwelling was preferred by most households in Mombasa County while the Landhi type of housing was common among households in Nakuru (46.1 per cent), Uasin Gishu (39.1 per cent), Nairobi City (36.9 per cent) and Kisumu (32 per cent.

Almost six in every ten households owned their dwelling units while slightly more than a third resided in rented or leased units.

The report notes that over 85 per cent of households in rural areas and 26.1 per cent in urban areas reside in their own dwellings.

“The results show that about seven in every ten households in urban areas are in rented dwellings compared to about one in every ten households in rural areas,” it reads.

“As expected, a high proportion of households in Nairobi City (86.4 per cent) and Mombasa (82.2 per cent) lived in rented dwellings.”

Other counties that have high proportions of households renting or leasing dwellings are Kajiado (59.5 per cent), Kiambu (51.6 per cent), Nakuru (46.3 per cent), Uasin Gishu (44 per cent) and Kisumu (42.2 per cent).

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