The Environmental Health Officers of the municipality marked World Toilet Day by providing public education through a radio discussion on Charity FM. This year’s theme, “Accelerating Change – Toilets for All, Everyone’s Responsibility,” guided the sensitization session. The purpose was to use the radio platform to reach a wider audience and raise awareness on the importance of safe sanitation.
World Toilet Day, declared by the United Nations, highlights the ongoing global sanitation challenges. During the radio discussion, officers explained that millions of people still lack access to safe toilets, leading to preventable diseases such as cholera, typhoid, diarrhea, and parasitic infections. Similar challenges exist within the municipality, including inadequate household toilet facilities, open defecation, poor maintenance of public toilets, weak handwashing practices, improper waste disposal around toilets, and limited enforcement of sanitation by-laws.
The officers educated listeners on the need for households to prioritize toilet construction and proper maintenance. They emphasized that good sanitation should be viewed as a necessity and not a luxury. Affordable toilet technologies, regular desludging, and responsible use of public toilets were discussed as key measures to improve sanitation. The message also stressed community ownership, accountability, and the role of various stakeholders—households, traditional leaders, schools, youth, and the private sector—in promoting safe sanitation.
The Municipal Environmental Health Unit reaffirmed its commitment to continuous hygiene promotion, inspection of toilet facilities, enforcement of sanitation regulations, and supporting the adoption of improved sanitation technologies.
Listeners were encouraged to build household toilets where needed, maintain them in a clean state, wash hands with soap after using the toilet, and report insanitary conditions to the Assembly. The overall message highlighted that sanitation is dignity, health, and development, and achieving “Toilets for All” requires everyone to play their part
