Sh4.8b AfDB project reduces typhoid, diarrhoea cases in Kampala

A sharp decline in typhoid, diarrhoea and malaria cases has been registered in Kawempe division, Kampala, courtesy of a $1.3m (sh4.8b) African Development Bank (AfDB) project that has improved sanitation in the area, a new report has revealed.

Under the five-year programme, AfDB through the Kawempe Urban Poor Sanitation Improvement Project (KUPSIP) has been able to put up 240 public sanitation facilities, hand-washing points, as well as family facilities for landlords and tenants.

According to an AfDB report published on October 7, typhoid fever and diarrhoea cases have for years now fallen significantly in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, especially in Kawempe division where the project concentrated.

Kawempe is one of Kampala's five administrative sub-divisions that has developed rapidly, but water and sanitation infrastructure has not kept pace in this area dominated by swampy lowlands.

KUPSIP has been implemented from 2013 to 2018, and it has helped to reduce typhoid fever cases by 7.7% and diarrhoea cases by 49.3%, according to the report.

"The project was highly successful in getting its message about improved sanitation out to the wider Kawempe community. This is reflected in the estimated number of people reached as a result of the campaign and also, more promisingly, in the recorded positive health outcomes," the Bank's project completion report says.

Implementation of KUPSIP has enabled the development and installation of sanitation facilities in the main public places of Kawempe, particularly near markets and in school grounds.

Extensive communication campaigns have been conducted in local media. Key achievements include the construction of sanitation facilities in five schools in addition to two hand-washing points, benefiting 2,523 pupils.

The project also included the construction of five communal four-cubicle latrines in public places, managed by local user committees.

Each committee has recruited an attendant/cleaner and set a fee of $0.50 to use the toilets and $0.13 to use the washroom, which serves around 2,500 people.

No fewer than 25 sanitation and hygiene clubs have been created in schools to reach out to pupils on the subject of improved sanitation, using an approach combining the distribution of information, education and communication materials with cleaning materials (wheelbarrows, hand-washing cans, brooms, brushes, gloves, rakes and bins).

Approximately 100,000 people have been reached through hygiene and sanitation improvement messaging.

The KUPSIP project has acquired three trucks for the maintenance and emptying of both existing and newly-built sanitation facilities. Each truck carries out about 50 trips per month, the price for cesspool emptying being set at $36.

Overall, the project has helped to increase job opportunities: 76 direct jobs were created for cesspool emptying lorry drivers, bricklayers, latrine attendants and additional staff recruited to administer the loan programme

. "The Executing Agency estimated that the project reached over 165,000 people over the three years, through the different pathways of the project and this number continues to grow," the report concludes.

Kampala dwellers have for years battled a number of sanitation diseases, including typhoid and diarrhoea, which result from the city residents consuming contaminated water.

A research paper published by the BioMedicalCentral (BMC) public health journal in January 2017 shows that on February 6, 2015, Kampala city authorities alerted the Ugandan Ministry of Health of a "strange disease" that killed one person and sickened dozens.

Subsequently, an epidemiologic investigation was conducted to identify the nature of the disease, mode of transmission, and risk factors to inform timely and effective control measures.

The study that was conducted by Steven Ndugwa Kabwama and others concluded that contaminated water and street-vended beverages were the likely vehicles of this outbreak.

"At our recommendation, authorities closed unsafe water sources and supplied safe water to the affected area," the study says.