Toilets for Low-income Settlements

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.2 calls for adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all. However, in 2017, more than 2.3 billion people did not have access to adequate sanitation services, out of which 600 million people relied on shared toilet facilities. From a public health perspective, this situation is disconcerting as the lack of sanitation is one of the key factors contributing to diarrheal infections, which are the second leading cause of death among children below five in developing countries.

On-site sanitation systems are recognized to be one of the best technological options for poor, water-scarce and fast-growing urban areas. While private investment in such facilities has remained low, national and international agencies have provided free public toilets in many informal settlements. However, free public toilets often suffer from poor maintenance. Many settlements resort to shared toilets to improve sanitation, although it is only considered a ‘limited’ solution at best.

We study various aspects of sanitation in low-income settlements, such as using a randomized controlled trial to test various interventions in Kampala, Uganda, as well as surveying toilet facilities and their users across cities in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Kenya, to identify key criteria of what constitutes ‘high quality’ sanitation in urban contexts.

Researchers: Dario Meili, Isabel Günther