Even though eight out of 10 households in a district in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province, near Timor-Leste, have latrines, less than half of them are used, according to local officials, who are trying out social latrine “contracts”.
“Every family should have and use latrines. So we are creating a village regulation, a legal umbrella [to achieve this],” said the village chief of Napa, in the province’s Timor Tengah Selatan District.
Diarrhoea is the district’s biggest killer, said Cornelis Metta, head of counselling and health promotion in the district Health Ministry office. “People defecate in any place and people just do not realize the importance of washing their hands with soap and water before drinking,” he said.
The district has nearly 100,000 households, or 416,876 people, according to the most recent local census.
One afternoon in late February, volunteers went door to door in nearby Lanu village to explain the importance of water conservation and latrines. Five families agreed to build family latrines, signing “contracts” that were then countersigned by representatives of three levels of government.
The “contracts” bind signatories to build and use their latrines.
It matters little the quality of the latrines built, said a village sanitation official who goes by one name, Sabarudin. “The target is not the quality, but awareness of the importance of latrines, the desire to have one and to use it for defecation,” he explained.
When asked if there were penalties or fines for people who broke a “contract”, officials said shame is a “heavy price to pay in village settings and enforcement was not a concern”.
Based on the 2010 nationwide health survey, (RISKESDAS) 21.6 percent of people in NTT Province practice open defecation, while nationwide the figure is 17.2.
And their rubbish? Four out of 10 people nationally toss it in sewers, 18.9 percent straight on the ground and 14.9 percent in open dumps.
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“Every family should have and use latrines. So we are creating a village regulation, a legal umbrella [to achieve this],” said the village chief of Napa, in the province’s Timor Tengah Selatan District.
Diarrhoea is the district’s biggest killer, said Cornelis Metta, head of counselling and health promotion in the district Health Ministry office. “People defecate in any place and people just do not realize the importance of washing their hands with soap and water before drinking,” he said.
The district has nearly 100,000 households, or 416,876 people, according to the most recent local census.
One afternoon in late February, volunteers went door to door in nearby Lanu village to explain the importance of water conservation and latrines. Five families agreed to build family latrines, signing “contracts” that were then countersigned by representatives of three levels of government.
The “contracts” bind signatories to build and use their latrines.
It matters little the quality of the latrines built, said a village sanitation official who goes by one name, Sabarudin. “The target is not the quality, but awareness of the importance of latrines, the desire to have one and to use it for defecation,” he explained.
When asked if there were penalties or fines for people who broke a “contract”, officials said shame is a “heavy price to pay in village settings and enforcement was not a concern”.
Based on the 2010 nationwide health survey, (RISKESDAS) 21.6 percent of people in NTT Province practice open defecation, while nationwide the figure is 17.2.
And their rubbish? Four out of 10 people nationally toss it in sewers, 18.9 percent straight on the ground and 14.9 percent in open dumps.
pt/cb
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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