Poor Sanitation Problems: Causes, Effects, and Solutions

Poor sanitation is a major problem affecting about 40% of the world's population. Lack of proper sanitation facilities can cause serious health problems and harm the environment. Education, women's safety, and government initiatives can help solve this problem.

POOR SANITATION PROBLEMS
LACK OF
SANITATION:
According to the
UNICEF
Executive Director,
about 40%
population of the
world still lack
accessibility to
proper and
improved toilets.
Urinating openly
can cause several
diseases which can
transmit from
person to person by
contaminating soil,
water and food.
DEFINITION:
Sanitation can be
explained as the way of
promoting and
maintaining hygiene,
by preventing an
individual from direct
contact with waste
materials mainly
faeces, by properly
treating and disposing
the waste materials.
The wastes can be
biological or chemical
agents, including
human excreta, which
cause serious health
problems if it comes in
direct contact with the
individual.
EDUCATION:
Imparting education
related to proper
sanitation system is
very important.
Schools play a very
important role in this,
by initiating and
adopting proper
measures on health
and hygiene.
Institutions should
promote and
encourage the
students in using
clean toilets and
washing their hands
after urinating.
Teachers can be a role
model in this by
imparting education
on sanitation, not only
to the students but
also to the
community.
WOMEN SAFETY:
Women and girls have
to bear the burden of
poor sanitation facilities.
It raises questions on
their safety and security.
They feel ashamed and
lose their dignity, while
urinating openly. In
many places, women and
girls can defecate only in
the day time, if they
don’t have a toilet in
their homes. After dark,
they are not allowed to
defecate, which can
result in serious health
problems and illness.
This is because there is a
probability of
harassment in the night
time, while going to the
defecation fields. Lack
of washing facilities also
causes health hazards for
them, and genital
infection, especially
when they menstruate.
HEALTH AND
ENVIRONMENT:
The wastes get
directly disposed to
the fields which
causes great problem
to the environment.
The quality of the soil
degrades resulting in
land pollution,
causing harm to many
plants and crops.
Several wastes make
the environment
dirty and smelly. The
infectious germs in air
can affect anyone,
causing several
respiratory problems
and air pollution.
Moreover, water gets
contaminated which
gives rise to water
borne diseases. It also
harms aquatic plants
and animals, causing
water pollution, as
the industrial and
agricultural wastes
flow to the water
bodies.
SOLUTIONS:
Government should
undertake projects of
building more and
more clean and free
public toilets.
Campaigns should
be organized,
especially in the
rural areas. Schools
should have clean
drinking water
facilities and
separate toilets for
girls, in order to
provide them
security. People
living at places with
no or less number of
toilets, should be
encouraged to use
the school’s
washrooms. Clean
portable and mobile
public toilets must
be in every place,
where people have
less or no
accessibility to
proper sanitation
facilities .