Gambia Celebrates Open Defecation Free Community Initiative

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Gambia Celebrates Open Defecation Free Community Initiative

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in collaboration with partners, over the weekend commemorated Open Defecation Free (ODF) Community Initiative in different rural communities across the country. In an interview with the Daily Observer, shortly after the end of the celebration at his Kotu office, Alfred Gomez, the coordinator of the WASH project at the Directorate of Health Promotion and Education of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a concept introduced in communities, aimed at controlling "sanitation and hygiene, with no cost or subsidy from the government and other NGOs." "This was facilitated and motivated by extension workers on the approach by guiding the communities on the benefits of sanitation and hygiene and the negative impacts of open defecation to the environment," Gomez said.

According to him, some community sensitisations were also held, especially on CLTS concepts. In 2009, he added, CLTS was piloted in the URR of The Gambia and after its success, it was scaled up in all the six health regions of The Gambia. Since the introduction of CLTS in The Gambia, stakeholders at regional and central levels have been making follow-ups and monitoring triggered communities towards the attainment of ODF. He said in view of this situation and considering its importance and impacts, the national taskforce went on an ODF verification visit to the regions upon receiving the regional ODF communities to ascertain the ODF status of communities before certification.

The coordinator of the WASH project informed the Daily Observer that in order to bring this message to the communities, over 500 facilitators were trained to promote hygiene within their community. Thus, he added, "these facilitators then went out and taught other community members, who in turn taught their families about the importance of health and hygiene."

Gomez, who disclosed that 118 communities in The Gambia have been certified ODF in April 2014, said the number will continue to grow. "Without water, people cannot survive, but without good sanitation and hygienic practices the water available could become contaminated and lead to diseases and death," Gomez noted.

The coordinator of the WASH project stated that every year 1.5 million people, most of them children, die from complications associated with diarrhoea, often picked up from dirty water. According to the WHO, 88% of diarrhoea cases worldwide are linked to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene. "Bacteria that gets into the water system causes diarrhoea, and one way that this happens is from open defecation. Some of you may have never heard of open defecation, but it is a reality for a lot of people in developing countries, due to the lack of improved sanitation facilities. In The Gambia, open defecation is practised by around 2.8% of the population, predominantly in the rural communities," he stated. Gomez then affirmed that open defecation will surely drop from the 2.8%, noting that efforts are still underway to attain an ODF Gambia come 2015. This, he noted, would be achieved through strong political commitment of the government, traditional and faith-based organisations, who are working to meet the target.

During the ODF celebration in all regions, he stated, a cross section of ODF communities, senior government officers, NGOs, Community- Based Organisations, drama groups, traditional communicators were present. He told Daily Observer that the presence of governors, chiefs, councillors and alkalolu made the celebraton colourful, in which senior government officials reaffirmed government's political commitment in supporting the initiative of CLTS.

The coordinator of the WASH project further stated that there is a need to focus on sanitation improvements, through CLTS, because it has been found to significantly reduce diarrhoea morbidity by 36%. He noted that diarrhoea is one of the top killer-diseases of children, fewer than 5-years-old in The Gambia. According to him, improvement in sanitation can significantly reduce child mortality. He then informed that there is also evidence of improved sanitation and hygienic impacts on many other areas of child survival and development, such as improving nutritional status, school attendance, and overall quality of life. WASH boss finally thanked UNICEF for funding the whole activities of CLTS and all the implementing partners.

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