Kitui governor Charity Ngilu washes her hands with soap manufactured by the Kitui Aloe Gardens Self Help Group/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 19 – Kitui County is leading in sanitary practices in Kenya according to a national sanitation report, this is an improvement from position nine in 2014 to this year’s position one with a grand score of 89 per cent.
This comes at a time when the county marks the World Toilet Day on Sunday at a ceremony to be presided over by the Deputy Governor of Kitui Wathe Nzau in Mbitini, Kitui Rural Constituency.
The report specifies that a good percentage of families in the county use toilets for human waste disposal in their areas of residence.
The good performance has been attributed to an initiative by the County Government of Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) who educated the people on the need for using toilets at home; an idea that was embraced fully by a number of families.
Following on the list are Siaya 86 per cent, Nakuru 80 per cent, Kiambu 79 per cent, Busia 74 per cent, Kisii 73 per cent and Machakos 71 per cent.
According to the USAID report, it is estimated that over eight million people in Kenya lack proper toilet facilities leading to open defaecation.
More than eight million Kenyans still defecate in the open which results in high prevalence of diseases such as diarrhoea, amoeba, typhoid and cholera.
Countrywide statistics indicate that 55 per cent of Kenyans have no access to toilets. Only five per cent of Kenyans wash their hands using soap.
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