THE ECONOMIC COST OF POOR SANITATION AND HYGIENE
Sanitation related loss of productivity, such as missed
workdays, costs some countries over 6% of their gross domestic product (GDP),
thereby costing individual countries billions of dollars each year.
COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for households
already facing multiple hardships. Before the pandemic, the IMF estimated that
44% of low income developing countries were at high risk or in debt distress.
The pandemic has put increased strain on ministries of finance and external
debt service obligations and many countries have reached unpayable levels, even
without consideration of the need for climate adaptation and resilience.
Achieving universal access to basic hygiene and sanitation can unlock
annualized net benefits of $45 billion and $65 billion respectively. Achieving
universal access to safely managed sanitation might even result in annualized
net benefits of $86 billion.
In Uganda, Mothers walk for hours every day carrying
heavy jerry cans, just to provide for basic needs; Children miss valuable class
time because they are sent to distant sources to collect water for their school;
86% of the districts have separate school toilet facilities for boys, girls and
staff. Pupil stance ratio ranges from 49:1 to 103:1, over and above the
national standard of 45:1. Less than 50% of schools had wash rooms. Changing
rooms are a rare facility in schools as are hand washing facilities. ~20% of
girls and boys indicated having a hand washing facility at school; 80% of girls and women dispose their used
pads in latrines. Other places for waste disposal include bushes and rubbish
pits. There are concerns that some cultures prohibit the burning of used
menstrual pads.
Unfortunately knowledge about MHH is
limited. The role of parents and teachers in passing on basic knowledge and
information is minimal. Culture locks men and boys from women's menstrual
issues; right and adequate MHH information is
limited. For school girls, major sources of information are schools (61%),
peers (45%), workmates (37%) and NGOs (27%); disposable pads are most commonly used among
school girls and career women. Due to prohibitive costs, girls and women
especially in the rural areas resort to using pieces of cloths as alternatives.
Eagles Youth Development Initiative, a community based organization Uganda is embarking on promotion Menstrual Health Management (MHM) in rural school with MHM information and production of re-usable sanitary pads.
We call upon development partners to support this programme.
GRANTS: Any
financial support for program implementation can be banked to
|
Bank |
: Ecobank |
|
|
Account
Name |
:
Eagles Youth Development
Initiative |
|
|
Account No. |
: |
722 500 3286 |
|
SWIFT-code |
: |
ECOCUGKA |
Written by
Musoke .S. Twahah
Executive Director
Email: sebikejetwh@gmail.com or developyouth@gmail.com
Location; Kiwenda Cell, 12Km Gayaza-Zirobwe Road,Uganda, East Africa
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