The country commemorated World Toilet Day on November 19, 2021, to ponder sanitational hygiene and raise awareness on the proper disposal of human waste.

But in most parts of the country, especially the Upper Nile region, there is nothing worth a party about as pit latrines have been inundated by water and human waste still finds its way into the water sources that should be jealously guarded.

The City Review established that in Bentiu and Fangak counties, most people have no access to basic sanitation after their pit latrines were washed by floodwater. They are left with no option but to relieve themselves in the open.

The lack of pit latrines is at the core of faecal-oral disease transmission, which remains common in these areas.

Women like Angel [not her real name] have to choose between maintaining a dignified method of faecal disposal or simply doing it in the open.

“Since our toilet was washed away, we do not mind going there. If your home is far away, you can then search for a good place to hide and ease yourself, ” Angel explains.

This means that human waste ends up contaminating water sources and affecting the health of the population.

Local leaders in Bentiu are working hard to devise a means to provide a sustainable solution to improve hygiene in the area, but flooding remains a hindrance.

“There is a lot of water, they cross the river, and if they see a place with no water; they just defecate. So, it is a problem that there is no toilet, ” one of the local elders said.

It is not just communities that are affected by having no access to toilets; children and teachers have also been affected.

One of the teachers said their school has never had a pit latrine and the pupils have no option but to practise open defecation.

“When they feel like relieving themselves, they go outside, but it can also affect their learning.”

Project Medical Reference, Emily Aliyah, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital at Old Fangak said open defecation is to blame for existing health problems.

“The water that is contaminated by human and animals’ faeces always carry a lot of bacteria and virus causing many diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid and hepatitis E,” he said.

Aliyah said in Fangak County, the people who are affected are the vulnerable children under the age of five, adding that they normally treat them with oral rehydration salt.

“We have an average of 50 cases per week, that is not much looking at the situation.

“Every day children die from preventable causes because of a lack of adequate sanitary systems, many parasites and diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and polio can spread unhindered,’’ she said.

World Toilet Day is always observed on November 18 to highlight the importance of sanitation and hygiene in improving public health, gender equality, education, economic development, and environmental protection.

The theme for this year was ‘Valuing Toilets.’