Rural sanitation problems in Uganda--institutional and management aspects.

Abstract

Rural Uganda faces a lot of problems caused by poor sanitation facilities such as pollution of water sources, a high rate of waterborne diseases, high expenditures on curative health care, and the threat of reduced educational performance of children through illness, early school drop out, especially of girls. Limited budgets and expenditures for the health sector, lack of staff, lack of accountability and transparency are important factors affecting sanitation status on the national level. Other restrictions can be found at the community level, e.g. taboos, cultural and customary beliefs, ignorance, poverty, or in soil conditions. To address the poor level of sanitation, the Government of Uganda has set up both a whole string of laws and guidelines and an institutional and management framework. One main emphasis was placed on the Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation Programme (PHAST) introduced in 1994 and since then adopted by several non-governmental organisations (NGO's).