DOBHAN (SINDHULI), March 8: More than 548 people were hospitalized when a diarrhea outbreak occurred in Dobhan, a rural village in Kamalamai Municipality of Sindhuli, some nine years back. The epidemic claimed life of a six year old girl from the village.
The epidemic still haunts the locals of Dobhan who attribute contamination of the water source for the outbreak that troubled the whole district.
Locals, claim that the diarrhea outbreak prompted them to look for measures to fend off the village from another outbreak of any water-borne disease. With access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices nowadays, they feel protected from diarrhea or any other water born diseases.
“During the outbreak, there was not a single household that did not have a diarrhea patient when the epidemic broke out. A camp was set up in the village school for treating the patients,” recalls Lok Bahadur Magar, a local of Dobhan. “Nowadays we have safe drinking water and have built proper toilets, that protect us from such water borne diseases,” adds Lok Bahadur.
A safe drinking water and sanitation project, jointly financed by Sindhulimai Municipality, Center for Integrated Urban Development and WaterAid Nepal, two years ago, had installed safe drinking water services and sanitation services in the community of 26 households.
Ganga Magar, another local from the village, also echoed Magar. “I helped to carry the patients to the camp. But, after some days I also became a victim of the disease,” said Ganga adding that the disease did not spare anyone.
She says the toilet built in her home’s premise has eliminated her everyday worries to find a secluded spot for defecating. “Now we have our own toilet and we do not have to find secluded spot for defecating,” she said adding that the time she and other members of the house spent in searching for defecating spot is presently used in other household tasks.
Prem Bahadur Magar, 48, shares that access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation has paid off to him and his family who had to walk more than one hour to fetch drinking water before they drinking water project installed water taps in the community.
“Most of my family’s time was consumed in collecting water. Now there is a tap in front of our house. Gone are the days that we have to walk all the way down to another village to fetch water. We can now use that time in other income generating activities,” said an elated Prem Bahadur.
The villagers say that their investment in safe drinking water and sanitation gives them more economic benefits. “I had spent nearly Rs 15,000 to build the toilet, while rest of the cost was borne by the project. The toilet helps to maintain cleanliness and sanitation which reduces medical cost like that the one we had to bear during the diarrhea outbreak. I had to spend Rs 5000 for treatment during the outbreak,” Prem Bahadur said.
According to a recent study by World Health Organization, the economic returns in terms of health, education and livelihood benefit from every Rs 100 invested in water and sanitation are worth about Rs 900.
Organizations working in the WASH say that educating people simply about the importance of hand-washing helps to mitigate diarrhea significantly. “Educating people about hygiene and promoting the practice of hand-washing with soap is a simple and cost effective measure that can help prevent diarrhea by 45 percent,” states a report entitled ‘Fatal Neglect Report 2009’ by WaterAid.
While the residents of Dobhan have got access to the drinking water and improved sanitation, many Nepalis still lack access to WASH services. Though government has plans of providing access to safe drinking water and effective sanitation facilities to all by 2017, fund crunch is likely to hinder it from gaining its objective.
According to the census of 2011, only 85 percent of the population has access to improved water supply and only 62 percent of the population has access to sanitation facilities.
WaterAid Nepal, an international charity working in Nepal, however, says that over 3 million people in Nepal have no choice but to get water from wherever they can while over 17 million people don’t have access to adequate sanitation in Nepal, over half of the population.
Government officials estimate that the government requires nearly Rs 20 billion for providing access to safe drinking water to all people. “Nearly 15 percent of the population still does not have access to clean drinking water. Our estimate is that we need to invest Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per person to make clean drinking water accessible which means we have to commit a fund of nearly Rs 20 billion over the next two years,” Rajan Raj Pandey, under secretary at the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, told Republica.
Meanwhile experts have stressed on increasing investment in the WASH sector. While the government and the development partners have been committing resources, albeit insufficient, the private sector has remained reluctant to make investment in the WASH.
Some private companies like the Unilever, are involved in launching WASH awareness campaign. Unilever has been campaigning for raising awareness about washing hands through its soap product, LifeBuoy. The campaign has been pitched in as its corporate social responsibility. Besides this and other few such companies, most of the private sector actors are yet to come on board the WASH campaign.
“There is limited involvement of the private sector in the WASH sector. Private sector participation needs to be encouraged. We can influence the private sector to consider community WASH needs,” read the Nepal Country Strategy of WaterAid Nepal for 2010-2015, highlighting the roles of the private sector.
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