Access to sanitation

Access to sanitation: People with access to improved sanitation (%)

Access to improved sanitation facilities refers to the percentage of the population with at least adequate access to excreta disposal facilities that can effectively prevent human, animal, and insect contact with excreta. Improved facilities range from simple but protected pit latrines to flush toilets with a sewerage connection. To be effective, facilities must be correctly constructed and properly maintained.

More than 2.6 billion people—over 40 per cent of the world’s population—do not have basic sanitation, and more than one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking water.

Four out of every ten people in the world don’t have access even to a simple latrine.

Five million people , mostly children, die each year from water-borne diseases.

Slums in Kenya - going to the toilet

VIDEO - Slums in Kenya - going to the toilet

Most slums have no legal status: they are ‘illegal settlements.’ That is why local authorities do not feel responsible for providing essential facilities, such as access to clean water and sanitation.

The filthiness of the slum is intense and overwhelming. Diseases as cholera and tuberculosis are widespread in the area.

Where can you go to the toilet? This is a daily problem for the inhabitants of the slum Kibera in Kenya. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the second largest urban slum in Africa. There are paid toilets all over the suburb. The waste water flows through an open sewer through the neighbourhood. Women are afraid to visit the toilet at night, it is too dangerous.
Most slum dwellers in Nairobi have no access to clean water.

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