Scaling up CLTS in Kenya: opportunities, challenges and lessons (PLA 61)

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

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Description: Over 2.6 billion of the world’s population does not have proper toilet facilities. Worse still, even those with proper toilet facilities do not wash their hands properly after shitting. In Kenya, about half of the population (20 million people) does not have proper sanitation facilities (Doyle, 2008). They defecate in the open or in a juala(plastic bag). The implications? About 80% of Kenyans who go to hospital suffer from preventable diseases such as typhoid, amoeba and diarrhoeal diseases. Diarrhoeal and gastroenteritis diseases are among the highest causes of infant hospitalisation in Kenya today. The situation is worse in rural areas where 55% of the population have no access to sanitation facilities and have to resort to open defecation.1Thousands of children miss classes in school as a result of diarrhoea and worm infections among other poor sanitation and hygiene related illnesses. Poor disposal of human excreta is responsible for the contamination of open water sources and the spread of frequent cholera outbreaks. Poor sanitation and hygiene not only affect economic and social well-being but also result in many infections that lead to the hospitalisation or death of thousands of Kenyans.