Plenary Sessions: Pickford

WITH HALF THE world’s population lacking adequate sanitation, WHO’s goal of health for all by 2000 is unlikely to be achieved. A major difficulty, as in much other development, is shortage of funds. A postal survey conducted by WEDC in 1992 showed quite clearly that the most common reason for people not having latrines is that they cannot afford the cost of the types of sanitation being advocated in programmes and projects. For many years affordability has been a major theme of international endeavour in our sector. Efforts have often been made to restrict the cost of providing water and sanitation to five per cent of average income, or the cost of sanitation alone to two or three per cent of income. In fact, many people pay much more than this when they perceive the value of what they get, or have no alternative. For example, the World Bank noted that in Onitsha, Nigeria, water cost slum-dwellers 18 per cent of the household income (World Bank, 1992). So it is now realized that willingness to pay is as crucial as affordability. The two must be considered together. What people say they can afford is usually what they are willing to pay. Without outside funding, no expenditure on sanitation can be afforded by those with no income and by those at lowest sub-subsistence levels. They have to resort to open defecation, otherwise known as ‘free-ranging’ (Figure 1). While this practice may be satisfactory for scattered rural communities, health hazards and difficulty in finding private places make it unsuitable for communities. Affordable improvement can be achieved by digging a hole and covering the excreta, as Moses commanded the children of Israel in the Sinai desert. In some places low-income villagers set aside ‘defecation fields’ for open defecation. This leads to the danger of spread of hookworm unless sandals or other footwear can be afforded. Hookworm transmission can be reduced, at no cost except for labour, by forming ridges and furrows. People defecate in the furrows and walk on the ridges . In urban and peri-urban areas various forms of ‘dry latrines’ have often been considered as low cost. In terms John Pickford, WEDC, UK.