Water and sanitation funding doubled

By Pascal Kwesiga

THE UN has doubled funding to Uganda to further promote better sanitation practices. This comes after the UN was impressed by Uganda’s performance on water and sanitation related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The executive director of the UN Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, Dr. Chris Williams, said that they had resolved to double funding to the Uganda Sanitation Fund from $5m to $10m.

He told journalists at Serena Hotel in Kampala that the council was impressed by the increase in the national toilet coverage to 68% from 65% in the past 18 months when they began funding the Uganda Sanitation Fund to promote better sanitation practices.

With two years to the expiry of the MDGs’ achievement deadline, Williams said, there were high prospects that Uganda would achieve the global water and sanitation targets, which many countries will not achieve.

He added that Uganda has so far out-performed 15 countries in Africa and Asia in utilising funds meant for improving sanitation and ensuring that all households build clean and user-friendly toilets so as to realise the UN commitment of ending open defecation by 2018.

The chairperson of the council, Prof. Anne Tibaijuka, said Uganda was likely to beat many African countries in achieving the water and sanitation goals. 

She called on Uganda to set up a sanitation directorate under the Ministry of Health.

The state minister for primary health care, Sarah Opendi, said although the national toilet coverage has increased, one out of three Ugandans do not have a toilet or a latrine .