Haiti - Health : Nearly 30% of Haitians defecate outdoors
The campaign against open defecation, launched by the National Directorate of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DINEPA) in early January, as part of the month of sanitation in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, ends on February 1st.
So far DINEPA organized during this campaign, several "Mayors Engagement Research Workshop" across the national territory, to educate elected representatives on sanitation issues in general and the scourge of defecation in the open air in particular, but also to reflect on local approaches and strategies, aimed at the adoption by local authorities of adequate sanitation measures.
Edwidge Petit the director of the sanitation sub-sector at DINEPA, considers that the situation is very serious "In Haiti, more than 2 million people do not have access to toilets at home and 3 million defecate in the open air Noting that in some settings open defecation is considered normal practice...
Dr. Jocelyne Pierre-Louis, Director General of the Directorate for Health Promotion and Environmental Protection (DPSPE), which highlights the health risks associated with the mismanagement of human waste, reminds that during this campaign a whole set of activities including service improvement and law enforcement in this area were carried out with local authorities to end this practice, ensuring that these activities will continue even after the end of this campaign.
