Pit Latrines for Disease and Death Prevention
The summary below was provided by the Peace Corps Volunteer and the community administering this project.
Map of BOTSWANA
There is an outbreak of cholera and diarrhea related deaths in my village in Botswana. These avoidable deaths are almost exclusively isolated to one ward (neighborhood). A community health assesment found that 3,000 people are sharing two water sources and three pit latrines (outhouses). The team found that the ward deposits two tons of human excrement, uncontained in the community every week.
The most common problem linked to this type of open defecation is diarrhea. Diarrhea is the biggest child killer in Africa; it kills more than HIV, Malaria, and Measles combined. 1.8 million children die annually from diarrhea that could have been prevented simply by having a clean place to go to the bathroom.
Disposing of excreta safely, isolating excreta from flies and other insects, and preventing fecal contamination of water supplies, would greatly reduce the spread of communicable diseases for my whole village. A 2010 study completed in Puru found that once pit latrines were placed in family compounds, diarrhea rates and deaths were reduced by half.
The District AIDS Office wants to build a pit latrine for every family in the ward. The families have signed a contract saying that they want the latrines and they will dig the pits themselves. Before the District AIDS Office can address the problems of HIV/AIDS, alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, and communicable diseases in the ward, we have to address the basic human needs in the community.
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