WATSAN in Africa

Welcome to my last blog. We have explored WASH in Africa from a variety of perspectives, and the discussions have prompted me to respond and reflect on past posts. The arrival of COP28 is a reminder of the topic of climate change, so in the second half of the post, I turn my attention to the links between climate, water, and sanitation.   Reflections We've learnt how inadequate WASH systems impact health in Africa. While improving community health environments, these efforts also present challenges to sustainable development. The urban growth in Africa highlights issues like unequal water access and disorganised management, prompting policy reforms. We've viewed water and sanitation from a top-down approach, focusing on policy and management. However, it's important to note that local African communities also actively upgrade and manage water resources, as evidenced in studies like Professor  Ben Page's  ( 2003).   Climate and WASH Climate change raises a number of i...

In this bl og, let’s focus on the relationship between sanitation conditions and urban development.   As many developing countries in Africa have a rapid urbanisation process, urban policy becomes an important tool for achieving sustainable development and has a close impact on the health conditions of citizens. The rapid growth and expansion of the urban population pose health conditions and challenges. The public administrations and governments of cities failed to manage the rapid population growth and provide the services they needed. The demand for housing, infrastructure, water sources, and environmental sanitation is continuously increasing. Among them, water supply is the backbone of the settlement of every city ( Wamuchiru et al., 2017 ). Since the construction of water supply and drainage pipelines is mainly for the wealthier classes, poor water conditions occur. As a symbol of control during the colonial period, only a few privileged classes could have better sanitation s...