Public health alert: 14 million Ugandans still practise open defecation

While officiating at the launch of Sanitation Week on Monday, Atwine said open defecation happens both in rural and urban areas, but it is more prevalent in the former.

“Despite Government interventions on sanitation and hygiene, Uganda continues to grapple with Water and Sanitation (WASH) challenges with 23% and 9.4 % of the population still practicing open defecation in rural and urban areas, respectively,” Atwine said.

“Similarly, 36% of communities in the country have basic sanitation facilities, 24% of which are in rural areas and 47.9% are in urban areas, while hand washing in rural areas is at 35.8% and 53.8% or urban,” she added.

Atwine also expressed concern over the continued existence of poor food hygiene and safety practices such as selling food from unclean premises, food preparation over open drainage lines, indiscriminate disposal of wastes, and poor housing continue to paint a glossy picture of the country in terms of sanitation, and hygiene and the national disease burden of preventable ailments.

Then, efforts by the health ministry and some non-governmental organisations such as public health campaigns to ensure hygiene helped deal with the crisis.

Much as there’s been an improvement in the hygiene of most people, experts worry the country may face another public health crisis if the issue of 14 million Ugandans still practising open defecation is not dealt with.