•The two groups - SATO and Silafrica - donated 100,000 sanitary toilets that they say will be built in the war against the pandemic.
•In Kenya, More than 20 million people lack access to basic sanitation, at least a place they can call a safe toilet.
Image: COURTESY
Over 2,000 units of innovative safe toilet systems have been distributed in Makueni and Murang'a informal settlements in Kenya.
Two lobby groups with Kenya Ni Sisi Campaign announced that these units will help relieve thousands of households from poor sanitation.
The two groups - SATO and Silafrica - donated 100,000 sanitary toilets that they say will be built in the war against the pandemic.
In Kenya, More than 20 million people lack access to basic sanitation, atleast a place they can call a safe toilet.
In a statement to newsrooms, the lobby groups said the sanitary toilet solution has a huge potential to fix Kenya’s sanitation crisis by uplifting livelihoods of pit latrine users.
To further support provision of sustainable water solutions the initiative has begun the journey to deploy 6,000 (3,000 ltr) contactless water stations nationwide.
“Right now is not the time to allow communicable diseases to compromise the health of our population. Otherwise we are not going to have healthy people coming to work and Kenya will stop moving," Silafrica Group Executive Director, Akshay Shah said.
The Sato latrine Pans, is a simple plastic power flush pan that provides an airtight seal, maintaining an odor-free sanitary system that prevents flies and insects from coming out when not in use.
This technology uses a trap door fixed underneath the pit latrine to prevent transmission of diseases and help communities to reduce the amount of water used during flushing.
The inexpensive innovation designed for low end households has been developed by lixil group in Bangladesh.
“Open toilets pose significant health risks to the dwellers and contribute to the spread of communicable diseases,”Sato Business, General Manager Africa Sam Lang’at said.
Lang'at said Kenya needs to build more than five million toilets to just basically offer this to this population.
"Can you imagine that on a day like this with COVID-19 pandemic, it’s much more important to provide clean sanitation to our people,” he said.
The Sato Toilets can be fixed with basic masonry and plumbing skills, and is expected to offer more job opportunities to households to communities in the informal settlements.
According to UNICEF, 9.9 million Kenyans drink directly from contaminated surface water sources and an estimated five million people practice open defecation.
Only 25 per cent have hand-washing facilities with soap and water at home.
Global evidence shows that better water, sanitation, and hygiene could prevent the deaths of 297,000 children aged under five each year globally.