scholarly journals Leaving no one behind? Analysis of trends in access to water and sanitation services in the slum areas of Nairobi, 2003–2015

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 549-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudious Chikozho ◽  
Damazo T. Kadengye ◽  
Marylene Wamukoya ◽  
Benedict O. Orindi

Abstract Service provision backlogs in access to improved water and sanitation services remain a key barrier to the health and well-being of people living in Nairobi's slum areas. In this paper, we use quantitative data from the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System to analyze the extent to which residents of Nairobi's slum areas have been able to access improved water and sanitation services from 2003 to 2015. This trend analysis reveals a slow but observable increase in access to improved sanitation facilities and garbage disposal services, while access to improved sources of water decreased. We conclude that the best scenario is the one in which all the three indicators have significantly improved during the period under consideration rather than having only some of them improving, while the others stagnate or decline. We recommend that Nairobi City Council and sector development partners refocus their attention towards increasing access to improved water and sanitation services in the urban low-income areas because lack of access to these essential services may expose people to waterborne diseases. It also threatens to leave behind a substantial number of people as the country moves towards the attainment of the water and sanitation-related sustainable development goals.

Author(s):  
Walef Pena Guedes ◽  
Cibele Roberta Sugahara ◽  
Denise Helena Lombardo Ferreira

The lack of urban planning combined with the disorderly occupation of large urban centers results in the lack of sanitation services. This condition generates harmful impacts on social well-being and natural resources. The water crisis in Brazilian regions imposed by the serious pollution of water bodies triggers a series of conflicts related to water scarcity and multiple uses. The present study aims to verify the consequences in the generation of diseases in the face of sanitation conditions in Brazilian regions. The method used in this work is descriptive with a qualitative approach. Indicators related to the share of the population with access to water and sewage collection and hospitalizations due to waterborne diseases in the Brazilian regions were analyzed. The sanitation indicators are intended to measure the impacts generated and provide information that can help in the management and sustainable use of water resources in order to establish priority actions for public policies. As a result, it is observed that the issue of universal sanitation that emerges from this discussion should be of interest to the national policy agenda, considering the negative externalities arising from the lack of this service. This argument is based on promoting the dignity of human life as advocated by the 2030 Agenda. It is important to highlight the implications of the precariousness of access to water and sanitation in the context of productive activities and income generation, since the health of workers in the regions most deprived of these services tends to be precarious.


2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Howard ◽  
Katrina Charles ◽  
Kathy Pond ◽  
Anca Brookshaw ◽  
Rifat Hossain ◽  
...  

Drinking-water supply and sanitation services are essential for human health, but their technologies and management systems are potentially vulnerable to climate change. An assessment was made of the resilience of water supply and sanitation systems against forecast climate changes by 2020 and 2030. The results showed very few technologies are resilient to climate change and the sustainability of the current progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) may be significantly undermined. Management approaches are more important than technology in building resilience for water supply, but the reverse is true for sanitation. Whilst climate change represents a significant threat to sustainable drinking-water and sanitation services, through no-regrets actions and using opportunities to increase service quality, climate change may be a driver for improvements that have been insufficiently delivered to date.


Author(s):  
Dr. Basanta Kalita

The SDGs agenda is the outcome of a series of international conferences on the issue of environmental sustainability. A principle of common and differentiated responsibility was endorsed by the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992) and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20 (2012). The political commitments from the world leaders were confirmed during the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development held in Addis Ababa in July 2015 for a common policy on sustainable development. The goals are broad based and interdependent. Finally the Paris Declaration on Climate Change (2016) paved the way for the adoption of a comprehensive list of goals to be achieved by 2030. Each of the 17 sustainable development goals has a list of targets which are measured with indicators and are interdependent. The present study will be confined to the 6th goal which is ensuring “Clean water and Sanitation” in the Indian context. KEYWORDS: SDGs agenda, Climate Change, employment, sanitation services


Author(s):  
Cristy Clark

Since the 1970s, global goal setting to increase access to safe drinking water has taken a number of different approaches to whether water should be primarily understood as a “human right” or a “human need.” In the Mar del Plata declaration of 1977, states both recognized a human right to water and committed themselves to achieving universal access by 1990. By the 1990 New Delhi Statement, with universal access still out of reach, the goal was renewed with a new deadline of 2000, but water was described as a human need rather than a human right. This approach was coupled with an emphasis on water’s economic values and the need for increased cost recovery, which in turn increased the focus on, and uptake of, private-sector participation in the delivery of water and sanitation services across the Global South. A similar needs-based approach was adopted at the start of the new millennium in Target 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but during this decade a consensus on the recognition of the human right to water also emerged in international law. As the normative status and content of this right came to be better articulated and understood, it began to influence the practice of providing water and sanitation services, and by the end of the MDG process a rights-based approach featured more prominently in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2015. While the provision of water and sanitation services is multifaceted, the evidence of global achievements from the 1970s onward indicates that a rights-based approach increases the priority given to the social values of such services and focuses attention on the need to go beyond technical solutions to address the structural issues at the heart of water inequality. Going forward, approaches to the provision of water and sanitation services and the human right to water will need to continue to adapt to new challenges and to changing conceptualizations of water, including the growing recognition that all living things have a right to water and that water itself can have rights.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Razak M Gyasi ◽  
Shiellah N. Simiyu ◽  
Moussa Bagayoko

Abstract Objective Water and sanitation have been related to the health of populations, yet, the effects of these factors on the occurrence of chronic conditions (CC) in later life have been least explored. This study examines the association of CC with water and sanitation among older Ghanaians and whether the associations are moderated by gender and residence. Methods Data from the WHO-SAGE Wave 2 comprising of 4735 adults aged ≥ 50 years were analyzed in this study. The primary outcome was CC and the exposures included sources of water, sanitation facilities and the sharing of sanitation facilities. Generalized logistic regression models estimated the effects of water and sanitation indicators on the occurrence of CC. Results Overall, 18.8% of the sample reported at least one CC. Compared to men and rural residents, women and urban residents respectively were more likely to report CC (p < 0.001). After full adjustments, logistic regressions showed that the use of unimproved sanitation (OR = 1.732, CI: 1.377–5.418) and sharing of sanitation facilities (OR = 1.624, CI: 1.095–1.320) were associated with higher odds of CC. However, the use of water did not reach significance (p = 0.125). We found a significant interaction effect for type of toilet × gender (OR = 3.498, CI: 1.744–16.442), source of water × residence (OR = 5.935, CI: 1.320-26.685) and type of toilet × residence (OR = 1.998, CI: 1.462–8.642). Conclusions The use of unimproved sanitation facilities and the sharing of sanitation facilities are associated with the occurrence of CC among older people. Policy and public health interventions targeted at improving the health and well-being of older people should conspicuously include improving access to sanitation services.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 3015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro-José Martínez-Córdoba ◽  
Nicola Raimo ◽  
Filippo Vitolla ◽  
Bernardino Benito

In recent years, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is becoming a major challenge for local governments. This research focuses on the role of Spanish local governments in the fulfillment of SDG-6, which aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all citizens. Specifically, this study analyses the evolution of the efficiency of Spanish local governments, and its determining factors, in the achievement of the SDG-6. The results indicate that the taxes associated with water supply and sanitation services, the private management of these services, population density, local government budget revenues, the income of the inhabitants of the municipality and the fragmentation of local governments are factors that can improve the evolution of the efficiency of Spanish local governments in achieving the SDG-6.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 719-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Vargas ◽  
Léo Heller

Abstract Within the framework for the realization of the human right to water and sanitation, States have the obligation to implement programs and public policies that satisfy the basic needs of their population, especially its most vulnerable demographics. In Colombia, this challenge has been addressed through policies that provide a determined essential amount of free water to people whose access to water and sanitation services are limited due to low income. Through a review of legal and technical documents as well as relevant literature, this article presents an analysis of the particular determinants involved in implementing this program in Bogotá and Medellín, as well as some related concerns. Among such factors, we discuss the evolution and changes of the tariff model used in service provision, estimates of basic consumption, the role of social movements and collective action, and user disconnection due to non-payment. The main particularities and differences of each case highlighted the inconveniences related to the method of identifying eligible users and applying assistance to beneficiary user groups, and the need for national guidelines in implementing this policy.


Water Policy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 758-772
Author(s):  
Janvier Kini

This paper addresses two approaches to guiding the inclusion of the poor and vulnerable in clean water and sanitation programmes in the framework of Sustainable Development Goals. It proposes an operational and adapted participatory approach for identifying the poorest and most vulnerable, which has become a central interest for inclusive development policies worldwide post Millennium Development Goals. Then, it proposes an inclusive water poverty index for the inclusion of the poor and vulnerable. This index, with six components, materializes the spatial and temporal equity in the distribution of water and sanitation services through a given district or municipality, particularly in developing countries.


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