Stakeholders involved in Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) have once again urged the government to enhance funding for the sector to achieve universal access to WASH facilities in the country.
During the 14th Annual WASH Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) conference held in Kampala on October 2, 2024, various participants and development partners highlighted that the existing funding gap poses a significant obstacle to expanding WASH services, particularly in rural areas.
Yunia Musaazi, the Executive Director of the Uganda Water and Sanitation Network (UWASNET), emphasized that the country needs approximately shs3 trillion annually nine times the current funding to meet its WASH targets by 2030.
UWASNET comprises about 170 CSOs dedicated to water, sanitation, and environmental initiatives.
Musaazi pointed out that three out of every 10 Ugandans have access to clean water sources.
She highlighted that over 10 million individuals in Uganda lack access to fundamental sanitation facilities. “In the National Development Plan I (NDPI) the target was to have universal access but as we talk now, we are at just 70%. This means that out of every 10 households three households don’t have access to clean water,” she noted.
“That is why we are deliberating with development partners and the private sector to identify the challenges that we still have to address and also come up with recommendations,” she added.
She ascribed all of this to insufficient funding for the WASH sector, particularly at the Local Government levels in remote rural areas.
While officiating at the event, the State Minister for Primary Healthcare, Magaret Muhanga, emphasized that insufficient funding has hindered districts’ ability to effectively monitor sanitation practices within communities, including the essential provision of pit latrines in every home.
She observed that although Uganda has made considerable strides in enhancing WASH services, the country still faces the challenge of providing access to these services at both the household and institutional levels.
She pointed out that inadequate hygiene practices and the absence of WASH facilities, such as handwashing stations, have contributed to outbreaks of several preventable diseases, including cholera and diarrhea among others yet this can be prevented.
Muhanga noted that 75% of the health issues managed by the Ministry of Health are preventable, often resulting from factors such as consuming unsafe water and living in unsanitary environments, which can lead to several health concerns.
“This is about personal responsibility. People should be responsible for their own lives because at least everybody has information that they have to wash their hands after visiting the toilets, you need to drink clean safe water, all this information is well known but you know human beings are just defiant in nature,” he added.
Muhanga also highlighted that the prevalence of open defecation stands at 8% in urban areas, while it is significantly higher at 16% in rural regions.
“But this average for the entire Uganda because you might find one community is contributing like 80% of this 16%. That is a big problem and I keep wondering why you would not go to a pit latrine,” she added.
The Ag. Commissioner for Planning at the Ministry of Water and Environment, Dennis Ocare, said that efforts are underway to increase the availability of safe water sources in villages, aiming to raise the current coverage from 79% to 95%.
The UWASNET Board Chairperson, Jane Nabunya urged all the participants to collaborate on driving positive changes in schools, communities, health facilities among others.
During the event, students from the Mulago School for the Deaf delivered impressive performances using synchronized sign language to highlight the significance of handwashing in promoting good health and preventing the transmission of diseases.
