WHO: 32% of Nigerian Healthcare Facilities Lack Basic Sanitation Services

It was revealed in the latest Joint Monitoring Programme report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that as of 2021, 32% of the health care facilities in Nigeria had no basic sanitation services.

The report pointed out that the patients, visitors, and staff members are at high risk of infections that could potentially be spread through faecal routes in health facilities without sanitation infrastructure.

The report, which had been released on Tuesday, and was titled, ‘Progress on WASH in health care facilities 2000–2021: Special focus on WASH and infection prevention and control’ and revealed that among the 41 countries with national estimates available in 2021, sanitation service levels varied widely.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, the coverage of basic sanitation services was four times higher in urban health care facilities (24%) than in rural (7%), but there was little difference between government (11%) and non-government facilities (14%). By contrast, in fragile contexts, coverage in non-government facilities (25%) was nearly twice that in government facilities (13%). Among the 41 countries with national estimates available in 2021, sanitation service levels varied widely. While North Macedonia, Kuwait, and Tokelau had already achieved universal access (>99%), none of the healthcare facilities in Niger and Honduras met the criteria for a basic sanitation service.

“Only one in five countries had reached 50% coverage, and in over half the countries with estimates available (25), coverage remained below 25%. In Northern Africa and Western Asia, basic coverage ranged from universal access in Kuwait to just four percent in the occupied Palestinian territories, and the coverage remained below 50% in all countries with estimates available in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Central and Southern Asia.

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“In many countries, a large proportion of health care facilities had a limited service. In 29 countries, at least one in 10 facilities had no service at all, and in Niger (26%) and Nigeria (32%) more than a quarter of facilities had no service in 2021.”

The Infection Prevention and Control recommended that a minimum of two functional, improved sanitation facilities in a primary health care center should be available onsite, one for patients and one for staff members.

In secondary and tertiary centres, a minimum of two functional, improved sanitation facilities that safely contain waste should be available for outpatient wards and one per 20 beds for inpatient wards.

Dr. Maria Neira, the WHO Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, said, “Hygiene facilities and practices in health care settings are non-negotiable. Their improvement is essential to pandemic recovery, prevention, and preparedness. Hygiene in health care facilities cannot be secured without increasing investments in basic measures, which include safe water, clean toilets, and safely managed health care waste.”

Kelly Naylor, the UNICEF Director of WASH and Climate, Environment, Energy, and Disaster Risk Reduction, also said that: “If health care providers don’t have access to a hygiene service, patients don’t have a health care facility, “Hospitals and clinics without safe water and basic hygiene and sanitation services are a potential death trap for pregnant mothers, newborns, and children. Every year around 670,000 newborns lose their lives to sepsis. This is a travesty – even more so as their deaths are preventable.”