Monday, April 23, 2012

Over 572 million Africans don’t have proper sanitation!

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE
Yahna Dinwur and a boy washing their hands in front of the latrine at the local primary school, Warok, Plateau State, Nigeria, January 2006. Credit:WaterAid/ Suzanne Porter

Africa alone is home to over 572 million (equivalent to about four times Nigeria’s population) of the world’s 2.6 billion people without access to proper sanitation, a new report has suggested.
The figure, a compilation of the number of people in 36 off-track African countries listed as not having access to proper sanitation by 2010, according to the report, means that over half of Africa’s estimated one billion population from 53 countries, do not have access to appropriate sanitation.
The report, “Saving Lives”, which was launched by WaterAid, an international aid organisation last week as the prelude to a high level meeting on sanitation on water in Washington D.C., puts the total figure of Africa’s population in need of proper sanitation, at 572,091,000.
Furthermore, the total estimated population of the 36 countries is 784,565,246, meaning only about 212,474,246 have access to adequate and proper sanitation.
Topping the list of countries with large populations without access to basic dignifying sanitation is Nigeria, with 109,312,000 of its 154,729,000 population without access and thus only 45,417,000 having access.
Following on the heels of Nigeria is Ethiopia, with 65,530,000 of her population of 85,237,338 without proper sanitation, then DR Congo, which has 50,134,000 out of its 63,655,000 population being without the required sanitation access as at 2010.
Ghana’s situation is also very intriguing, as out of a total population of 23 million, the report indicates that 20,977,000 people were without proper sanitation by 2010, which means only 2,023,000 (two million) people have access to improved sanitation in the country.
Although the report does not state why the other African countries are not included, it has been gathered that a country like Liberia is missing because records are not available.
The entire list of off-track African countries in WaterAid’s report is as follows:
COUNTRY
PEOPLE WITHOUT SANITATION IN 2010
TOTAL POPULATION AS AT 2011
1.      Benin
7,699,000
8,439,000
2.      Botswana
763,000
1,839,833
3.      Burkina Faso
13,669,000
13,228,000
4.      Burundi
4,527,000
7,548,000
5.      Cameroon
9,995,000
17,795,000
6.      CAR
2,905,000
4,216,666
7.      Chad
9,768,000
10,146,000
8.      Comoros
470,000
798,000
9.      Cote d’Ivoire
15,001,000
17,654,843
10.  DR Congo
50,134,000
63,655,000
11.  Djibouti
444,000
496,374
12.  Ethiopia
65,530,000
85,237,338
13.  Ghana
20,977,000
23,000,000
14.  Guinea
8,185,000
9,402,000
15.  Kenya
27,549,000
34,707,817
16.  Madagascar
17,607,000
18,606,000
17.  Malawi
7,301,000
12,884,000
18.  Mali
11,988,000
13,518,000
19.  Mauritania
2,560,000
3,069,000
20.  Mauritius
143,000
1,219,220
21.  Morocco
9,585,000
33,757,175
22.  Mozambique
19,180,000
20,366,795
23.  Namibia
1,553,000
2,031,000
24.  Niger
14,116,000
13,957,000
25.  Nigeria
109,312,000
154,729,000
26.  Rwanda
4,781,000
7,600,000
27.  Senegal
5,968,000
11,658,000
28.  Sierra Leone
5,105,000
6,144,562
29.  South Africa
10,528,000
47,432,000
30.  Sudan
32,228,000
39,154,490
31.  Swaziland
510,000
1,032,000
32.  Tanzania
40,357,000
37,849,133
33.  Togo
5,244,000
6,100,000
34.  Uganda
22,060,000
27,616,000
35.  Zambia
6,806,000
14,668,000
36.  Zimbabwe
7,543,000
13,010,000

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