After the holding of a 3-days sectoral dialogue this week on sanitation bringing together among other national and international experts from 9 countries, the head of the National Directorate of Water Supply and the sanitation (DINEPA) and of the World Bank, Evelt Eveillard, the Minister of Public Works (Supervising Ministry of the DINEPA) announced a new national roadmap updated implementation of the sanitation strategy.

It was mentioned in this dialogue that in Haiti, nearly 25% of the rural population defecate in the open air and that only 28% of the population had access to adequate toilets. The majority of contaminated water is discharged without any control in the natural environment. An equally critical situation in the public areas, including schools where latrines are poorly maintained and therefore little used.

"To meet the emergency, the strategy focuses on behavior change, the accompaniment of actors and taking account of the need to accompany each sanitation link. Whether at the level of support to the construction of toilets has collect, the disposal and treatment of waste water, the sanitation cycle must be strengthened," declared Dumay Benito, Director General of the DINEPA.

According to Edwige Petit, Director of Sanitation to DINEPA, "to improve this situation, the strategy insists on education and promotion to raise awareness and encourage households to build or improve their own latrines, and toilet facility in the schools, hospitals and other public institutions."

Instead of staking everything on building toilets, DINEPA prioritises the effectiveness of outreach efforts of households without direct subsidies to purchase toilet. It also said that to achieve results, it is necessary to have a clearly expressed will at the highest levels of the State and decisive involvement of local authorities, communities and individuals.

Let's recall that waterborne diseases caused by poor hygiene and sanitation practices are responsible for 20% of deaths in children under 5.

Mary Barton-Dock, Special Envoy of the World Bank in Haiti confirmed "Improving sanitation is everybody's business. For each built toilet, adopted and used, it is a family less affected by cholera and other waterborne diseases

that cause more children died under 5 years as HIV / AIDS, malaria and measles combined. We can not ignore the possibility of saving lives by improving access to sanitation and supporting this new national roadmap."

HL/ HaitiLibre