Salvation Army for sustainable hygiene

Salvation Army has asked communities in Karonga to switch from temporary latrines to resilient toilets to avert the raging cholera outbreak.

The flood-prone shoreline district has registered 266 cholera cases and four deaths, the worst hit among 13 districts where the fast-killing watery diarrhoea has hit 478 cases and killed six.

Yesterday, Salvation Army programmes manager Mathews Tombolombo said the community-led total sanitation policy government adopted in 2008 will only bring desired results if every family owns and uses a sanitary toilet.

The organisation has constructed 10 modern toilets in five primary schools and drilled 40 boreholes in villages under traditional authorities Kilupula and Kyungu.

“It is not sustainable to advocate for community-led sanitation (CLTS) in the communities while people keep using temporary toilets. When floods come, the facilities are swept away and people revert to relieving themselves in the bush. This leads to cholera outbreaks,” he explained.

Mwanjasi Primary School head teacher Wilson Mwangama thanked Salvation Army for constructing toilets that can withstand chronic disasters.

“When there are floods, maggots from the toilets float all over the place. We are lucky there has been no cholera cases reported. Pupils were at risk of sanitation-related diseases,” he said. n