Poor Sanitation, a Timing Bomb in South Sudan
By Wani Isaac Kenyi
In an era marked by historic shifts from Covid-19 to conflicts and climate change, health, education, and Sanitation are swept under the radar at least for least-developed countries like South Sudan.
The world’s newest nation continues into its fifth straight year of devastating floods, displacing thousands over the years as well as causing illnesses from waterborne diseases.
In Malakal, a town in Upper Nile state, the town market is visibly crowded as people go about their daily businesses. People are seen sitting outside small restaurants and tea shops. Some smoke Shisha, play cards or dominoes under trees, and some loiter in the streets looking for ‘only God knows what.’
Despite the large crowd, only one public latrine is visible in the neighborhood. Even so, it seems to be out of use. Yet, it could still be very useful to folks around.
From a distance, one can choke on the stench of ammonia substance from the concentrated urine in the surrounding area. A few meters close then the strong putrid smell of feces dropped in the open is overwhelming. The heat makes it even worse.
The structure was built by USAID but maintenance has remained a tug of war. This public latrine remains the only visible toilet as one walks in the streets of Malakal, encouraging open defecation in the town. It’s a similar situation across South Sudan.
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Malakal’s main mosque charges residents 50 SSP to use its toilets. This set price is high for the very poor and low for its management to afford supplies such as water and toiletries.
“We are in dire need of cleaning equipment and chemicals,” says John Paul, a cleaner at the mosque.
Proper sanitation and access to latrines are a challenge to many throughout the country. A 2020 UN report indicates that 60 percent of South Sudan’s population practices open defecation due to a lack of sanitation facilities in the country.
Due to the internal displacement of nearly two million people since 2013, open defecation rates have soared.
In Malakal, insecurity has impeded NGOs from providing sanitation services to most areas. In villages like Kodok, floods pose yet new challenges.
People have to use speedboats to travel to this village and walk through thick and wet mud as a result of the heavy downpours caused by unreliable rain patterns.
In Kodok, one can see abandoned homes, with ramshackle Tukuls (grass-thatched houses) and destroyed latrines, standing in knee-high flood waters.
Only a handful of people still lived there, most of whom defecate openly in nearby bushes exposing themselves to poisonous snake bites.
Like many, John Ajak, cannot afford to construct a latrine.
“The latrine I had was shallow and since it collapsed due to the rain I couldn’t afford to rebuild it,” Ajak says.
In 2019, World Vision built 7,924 toilets across the country. Yohanes William, the organization’s Malakal Hygiene Coordinator says World Vision can only do more with increased funding.
“If we get donations we’ll carry out awareness to the communities on sanitation but the priority lies in hygiene awareness and providing clean water,” says William, citing Wau Shilluk, a village of about 50,000 people in Upper Nile’s Ogod County – In Chollo Kingdom – as one of the key communities that need immediate support.
“People there aren’t getting any support for sanitation services from international donors or the government,” he says.
Adelyo Wilson Gore, a resident of Wau Shilluk who lives just 300m from the White Nile, is always prone to water-borne diseases such as Bilharzia and Guinea worm due to poor sanitation. Gore says they live by the Grace of God.
“A person can be healthy now (today) and after a week he gets sick. Like me now, I’m sick because of drinking dirty water,” Gore recounts.
The 2023 UN conference for the least developed countries is expected to tackle sanitation and hygiene.
Discussions and plans during the conference, which will convene world leaders between 5th March and 9th in Doha, Qatar this year, shall be key as most African countries will have their eyes glued on the outcome of the conference.
For South Sudan, a sanitation and hygiene plan of action is as important as peacebuilding and security.
The Doha plan of action aims to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all in the least developed countries by 2030.
South Sudanese and other least-developed countries facing the same problem will hope practical steps are adopted so they can receive the help they need. Until then, people like Gore will continue to suffer.
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