Sanitary systems ensure healthy, dignified society – Community physician

By Chidinma Ewunonu-Aluko

A community medicine physician, Dr Omolade Falade, has identified effective sanitary systems or toilets as important in ensuring a healthy and dignified society.

Falade said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday to commemorate World Toilet Day.

The physician emphasised that poor or lack of sanitary systems could lead to contamination of water sources, such as rivers and lakes, with human faeces, resulting in diseases such as cholera.

“In addition to this is the issue of safety of girls and women who must walk long distances to areas not well-lit, just to use the toilet,” she said.

She called for collaboration between the government and other critical stakeholders to raise awareness of the dangers of open defecation.

Falade added that the government should ensure communities have accessible water and effective sanitation facilities.

This, she said, must be equitable, ensuring the marginalised and vulnerable groups, such as those in Internally Displaced Persons’ Camps, flood victims and those living in conflict zones, were not left out.

“Individuals, civil societies and the private sector need to advocate for the development and enforcement of sanitation policies as well as innovative sanitary solutions.

"Community members must also be responsible and hold one another accountable concerning safe sanitation practices.

“With just about six years away from 2030, there is the urgent need to tackle the issue of safe sanitation in Nigeria if we are to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of water and sanitation for all by 2030,” Falade said.

She noted that World Toilet Day, celebrated annually on Nov. 19, was to raise awareness of global challenges concerning sanitation.

She added that the day would also direct the world’s focus on urgently tackling the sanitation crises of those who still lack safe sanitation systems.

The community physician further emphasised that access to sanitation facilities was a basic human right.

“So, the aim is to inspire action toward ending open defecation and providing safe and sanitary toilets for people in their communities.

“This aligns with the SDGs, which call for universal access to adequate and equitable sanitation, and the end of open defecation by 2030.

“Unfortunately, according to UNICEF, over 48 million people in Nigeria still practice open defecation because they do not have access to safe and sanitary toilets.

“The theme for 2024 World Toilet Day, ‘Toilets – A Place for Peace’, raises global awareness on the threats that conflict, climate change and natural disasters pose on public and environmental health due to a disruption of sanitary systems,” Falade said. (NAN)