Over 50 million Nigerians defecate openly – UNICEF
The United Nations Children’s Educational Fund, UNICEF, has disclosed that over
50million Nigerians do not have access to toilets hence resort to open
defecation. Wao!
The world body also revealed that Nigeria ranks among the five
countries in the world with the greatest rates of open defecation.
This was made known in a report issued yesterday by Ijeoma
Onuoha-Ogwe, UNICEF ‘A Field Office’ Communication Officer (Advocacy,
Media and External Relations) on behalf of Sanjay Wijesekera, head of
UNICEF’s global water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, to coincide
with World Toilet Day.
The report titled, Improving Nutrition Outcomes with Better Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene, pointed out the emerging evidence of links
between inadequate sanitation and malnutrition among children.
Wijesekera was quoted as saying that “Nigeria loses over 150,000
children to diarrhea annually.
After pneumonia, it is the biggest killer
of Nigeria’s under-fives; 88 per cent of diarrhoea cases in Nigeria are
attributed to unsafe water and sanitation. Where rates of toilet use
are low, rates of diarrhoea tend to be high.
“Intestinal parasites such as roundworm, whipworm and hookworm are
transmitted through contaminated soil in areas where open defecation is
practiced. Hookworm is a major cause of anaemia in pregnant women,
leading to malnourished, underweight babies.
“We need to bring concrete and innovative solutions to the problem of
where people go to the toilet, otherwise we are failing millions of our
poorest and most vulnerable children.”
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