Village School Toilet Campaign

World Health Organization claims that around 827,000 people in low- and middle-income countries die each year due to inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene. One of the most serious and sanitation problem has been the open defecation, leading to epidemic outbreaks, including fatal diarrhea.

Open defecation has long been a problem for Nepal, still practiced by 16 percent of the population, mostly prevalent in rural areas. About 37 percent of Nepal’s rural population practice open defecation. People are left with no choice but to defecate out in the open because they do not have access to toilets. About 20 percent of government schools lack improved sanitation facilities as well as separate toilets for girls with menstrual hygiene management facilities.

By 2019, Nepal had made a remarkable progress in sanitation coverage and achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) status in all 75 districts. Schools were also reporting progress — 80% possessed toilets with water source. Despite significant progress in improving overall sanitation but as usual, facts and figures alone don’t tell the full story. There continues to be challenges related to the operation, maintenance and use of toilets in schools.

Due to the absence of regular inspections, no one knows if the toilets built are regularly used or comply with minimum hygiene practice. About 39% of the population still do not have toilets with satisfactory features and hygiene. About 3.5 million Nepalese still do not have access to basic water services which is fundamental to toilet hygiene. Social norms still impact people’s ability to access toilets. Daughters-in-law, for example, are not allowed to use the same toilets as fathers-in-law, a practice especially in the Terai communities, leaving the family to seek open defecation or build a second toilet. Poor toilet hygiene is widespread, exacerbating the prevalence of water borne diseases and infections.

Among all the impediments facing complete and comprehensive solution, the bottom line is that there are still shortage of well-functioning toilets. Many toilets badly need water supply, washing features and physical repairs. About 15 percent of schools lack separate toilets for girls with menstrual hygiene management facilities. Most toilets constructed have a single pit that gets filled in few years but pit emptying services are not available in most places in the hills and mountains, requiring hygienic disposal or new pits. The feces from the pits are often disposed in open spaces, fields and sometimes even near water sources, further aggravating the hygiene problem. Lastly, the 2015 earthquakes have damaged about 390,000 household toilets in Nepal.

Thus, Nepal needs more toilets especially in the rural districts targeted at children and schools.  Helping with sanitation infrastructure is one sure way along with access to clean water-supply would go long way to prevent the deaths of nearly 300,000 children each year according to WHO.