SANITATION-SAFETY- PLANNING (SSP), THE NEXUS FOR CLIMATE RESILENCE, SANITION AND HEALTH IN BAYELSA STATE

In recorded human history, climate-related hazardous events have always existed; however, climate change has proved to have the potential to increase their severity and the likelihood of creating public health risks. In Bayelsa State, a sizable portion of the population has been reported to be suffering from gastrointestinal disorders particularly diarrhea and a number of children have been diagnosed of gastroenteritis and helminthes infections in the year 2021. Again, preventing exposure and contact to human waste, especially in dense urban settings requires the safe management of the entire sanitation service chain involving multiple actors and exposed groups in the collection, transport, treatment, disposal and end use of sanitation waste. To that end, a review of scientific literature, particularly the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2014), the WHO discussion Paper on Climate, Sanitation and Health (WHO, 2019) and the Bayelsa State SSP zero draft of 2021, is undertaken to ensure that climate change outcomes are considered within the Sanitation Safety Planning (SSP) risk assessment, planning and management processes. The SSP is a WHO risk based management tool for the safe use and disposal of grey water, wastewater and excreta developed in 2006 because in 2018 the WHO concluded that sanitation interventions have shown lower than expected health outcomes. Evidently therefore, the Bayelsa State SSP zero draft of 2021 reports that between March and April 2021, over 200 cases were reported from over 30 communities arising from the outbreak of acute-gastroenteritis suspected to be of cholera, and casualty figures were over 26. Hopefully, the first comprehensive Guidelines on Sanitation and Health which aim to provide evidence-based recommendations and offer guidance to ensure international, national and local sanitation policies and programmes that effectively protect public health, was launched by the WHO in 2018. It is a step-by-step risk based approach to implementing local level risks assessment and a management tool for the entire sanitation service chain covering containment, conveyance, treatment and end use of disposal. Consequently, the SSP is hereby recommended for adoption in Bayelsa State and Niger Delta Region.