Waterborne diseases lurk as Bwaise grapples with flying toilets, floods

KAMPALA - Paul Kule, who has lived in the Kampala city suburb of Bwaise for the last 20 years, says many homes in that area don't have pit latrines so they use ‘flying toilets’.

Many residents use flying toilets—plastic bags in which they dedicate then toss them down the drainage system (during the rainy seasons).

He says Bwaise being a wetland and slum floods whenever it rains, which exposes its residents to waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

Sharifa Kizza, a mother of six, has lived in Bwaise for the last 15 years and says whenever it rains, she loses sleep due to the flooding in her house, which affects her property too, although her house has sandbags around the entrance. These floods cause her and her children to contract waterborne diseases.

Kawempe division medical officer Dr Isaiah Cheprot says in line with this, the division has started engaging in various meetings with various NGOs to pave the way forward to curb waterborne disease spread in the area.

He made the revelation recently during a local stakeholders engagement to enhance the prevention of Waterborne diseases in Kampala slums held at Kawempe division headquarters.

Cheprot appealed to non-governmental organisations to help in the establishment of innovations and interventions to curb the waterborne disease problem in Bwaise first because it is the largest slum area in Kampala.

At the same function, Daraus Bahikire, the executive director of Purpose Health Care Africa, said research shows that Kawempe is the largest division in Kampala with an estimated population of 388,665, 19 parishes and 828 villages.

Purpose Health Care Africa champions community-led interventions for a sustainable impact on the health and well-being of communities and generations.

He added that of the 19 parishes in the division, Bwaise 1 parish is the largest slum area in Kampala with a total population of 37,500 and an average household size of 5 people.

“In line with this, PHCAfrica has spearheaded a household cluster mobilization pilot project in Bwaise 1 where one facilitator will educate 100 households with 10 people each, about the effects of waste management, climate change, flooding, and waterborne diseases’’ Bahikire said. 

He said that the project will take one-and-a-half years and will include the donation of dustbins and educating residents of the area about the behavioural change of not littering garbage in the drainage system but putting it in the dust bins as a waste management strategy.

Bahikire said this will prevent clogging which brings flooding due to climate change when it rains.