The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare with support from the United Nation International Children Education Fund (UNICEF), last Thursday organised a day’s validation forum on the National Sanitation Policy.

The validation forum held at the Paradise Suites Hotel in Kololi, was meant to review the policy in order to come up with a proper document, as the policy will go a long way in improving the sanitation standard in the country. Speaking at occasion, Momodou K. Cham, director of development planning at the National Planning Commission, said sanitation is very important, as it is part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). According to him, waste collection and management has been very low and this, he said, has raised concern among the people which resulted to the monthly cleaning exercise (Set-Settal).

He noted that in order to eradicate illness among the people, the issue of proper sanitation must be addressed as there cannot be health if the sanitation is poor. Sanitation, he said must be taken as a fundamental right. Cham dilated on government’s efforts in addressing the need for sanitation. He described the monthly cleaning exercise as an essential effort in addressing the issue of sanitation. He finally called the people to double up their efforts in order to achieve the MDG for sanitation.

In his opening remarks, Samba Conteh, the acting permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said the development of the policy is long over due, as significant strides have been taken by the government in providing safe drinking water and the improvement of basic sanitation particularly in the rural areas, where sanitation is most critical.He noted that a lot still remains to be done in the areas of solid waste and sewerage management, urban drainage as well as the adaptation of basic sanitation and hygiene practices at personal and household level.

He disclosed that at the AfricaSan conference on sanitation and hygiene held during the International Year of Sanitation in Durban, South Africa, ministers and heads of delegation of the 32 African countries with some local government officials among others signed the eThekiwin declaration. The declaration he said is a pledge made in recognition of the fact that approximately 580 million people, more than 60% of Africa’s population, currently do not have access to safe sanitation.

According to the acting PS, the present national sanitation policy is made in compliance with the eThekiwin Declaration that was formed by a comprehensive situational analysis of sanitation in The Gambia, and aims at giving more coherent direction to strategies supporting a coordinated management of sanitation, adding that the policy should also help utilise and channel resources more efficiently. In conclusion, he urged the participants to critically scrutinize the drafted policy so as to come up with a sound document that will shape the future sanitation situation of The Gambia.