Setting the Scene – Why Should We Care About WASH conditions Africa?

I would like to welcome everyone onboard to my introductory blog post! Today, let's search for answers to the topical question. 

Fig.1: SDG 6

Let us first try to define each component of WASH. The UN's definitions in SDG 6 (fig.1) provide a good starting point. "Water" stands for uncontaminated water access. A common misconception is that water accessibility equates to availability (which relates to water scarcity). Water availability is often "idly" defined regarding river discharge but ignores other water resources and the infrastructure investment required to make them available (Cairncross, 2003; Damkjaer & Taylor, 2017). "Sanitation" usually concerns access to safe treatment and disposal of wastewater that prevents human contact. Hygiene refers to individualised "practices or conditions that ensure health and prevent diseases". e.g., handwashing.

The components are highly interlinked. For instance, safe sanitation access prevents water contamination, contributing to safe water access, and both are essential to good hygiene practices and conditions. Safe WASH constitutes basic human needs and dignity. It is indispensable to good health and preventing diseases, e.g., neglected tropical diseases, "trachoma, soil-transmitted helminths, and schistosomiasis". In fact, safe WASH is reflected in SDG 6, which synergises with many other SDGs, e.g., SDG 3, "good health and well-being", and thus a device for sustainable development.

WASH challenges in Africa

Globally, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the highest magnitude and proportion of population without safe WASH access, which occasionally showed an upward trend (fig.2, fig.3 & fig.4). In 2020, 411 million, 779 million, and 839 million African populations still lacked access to basic water, sanitation, and hygiene services. 

Fig.2: Safely managed water access %, 2000-2022

Fig.3: Safely managed sanitation access %, 2022

Fig.4: Basic hygiene access %, 2011-2022

Due potentially to governments' bureaucracy, lack of funding, capacity, commitment, efficiency, etc., accompanied by rapid population growth,  urbanisation, and the rise of urban informal settlements (fig.5) (Gaye et al., 2018; Davis, 2013), challenges have been posed on public investment and provision of WASH services and residents' own efforts to search for alternatives (Carter et al., 2007; Chowns, 2015). 

Fig.5: A river stream in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya.

Besides, diverse physical challenges exist. Africa has significantly variable inter- and intra-annual precipitations (fig.6), contributing to its most variable river discharge globally (McMahon et al., 2007). Dry and low-water periods present challenges, especially for surface water extraction. During wet and high-water periods, sanitation and hygiene conditions are at their most deprived, epidemics prevail, and related mortality peaks, with evidence from Kampala, Uganda (Kwiringira et al., 2016). 

Groundwater increasingly plays a fundamental role in urban and rural water supply due to its higher quality and lower costs. However, its sustainable development and management face significant challenges from human activity contamination and hydrogeological patterns (fig.7) (Gaye, 2018).

Fig.6: Inter-annual rainfall variability.

Fig.7: hydrogeological patterns. 

In the following blog posts, I wish to explore how we can navigate these challenges, starting with bottom-up techniques. I wish to refer to a range of examples across Africa, echoing Wainaina's (2019) reminder not to treat Africa as a monolithic continent.