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ETHIOPIA-HEALTH
Ethiopians last in line for toilets, report says
ADDIS ABABA, Nov 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Ethiopians are less likely than
anyone else on Earth to have access to a decent toilet, a new study said
Friday.
Charity WaterAid found Ethiopia leads the world in toilet scarcity with
93 percent of Africa’s second-most populous country lacking a safe lavatory.
Instead people must defecate in the open or unsafe latrines, aiding the
spread of diseases such as diarrhoea.
The report, released ahead of the UN’s annual World Toilet Day, found
that 2.3 billion people worldwide lack a loo at home, including 620 million
schoolchildren.
“This is just appalling because this not only threatens their health and
education and safety, but it also threatens their future,” said WaterAid’s
campaign director Savio Carvalho.
The lack of toilets can have deadly consequences, particularly for
pupils.
Nearly 140,000 students are killed by diarrhoea and other diseases each
year, while another 289,000 children die from illnesses caused by poor
sanitation before they even enter a classroom, the report said.
Located in the drought-prone Horn of Africa, Ethiopia has seen its
economy grow at some of the continent’s fastest rates in recent years, yet
still struggles with widespread poverty.
Compounding its troubles are a series of ethnic clashes that have
displaced 1.4 million people since the start of the year, the highest number
in the world.
The ethnic conflicts together with flooding and lingering drought have
made 7.9 million people reliant on food aid, UN and Ethiopian disaster
planners estimate.
These crises have also exacerbated toilet scarcity, Carvalho said, as
the government shifts resources from sanitation development to emergency
relief.
“When there is a conflict in any country, where it’s internal or outside
its border, the pace of development slows down,” he said. BSS/AFP/IJ/1633 hrs