Sanitation and Hygiene
Sanitation and Hygiene
The lack of sanitation and hygiene in Nicaragua causes more than 4.6 million episodes of disorders or infections and almost 500 premature deaths per year.
Fifty percent of the rural population has no access to basic sanitation. That is why we complement our contribution to improving the health of rural communities. All our projects include a sanitation component. We provide technical assistance for families to build their own excreta disposal systems.
Whenever we implement a drinking water project, we make every effort to incorporate the sanitation component. However, we are willing to serve communities with sanitation needs only.
We mostly implement VIP type semi-raised ventilated double pit latrines, a culturally accepted technology in rural Nicaragua, easy to maintain, relatively affordable and environmentally friendly.
This model has a useful life of 10 to 15 years, when properly maintained, since it can be moved from one pit to the other when they are filled. Another advantage of this type of technology is that it reduces odors and the presence of insects.
As in the case of drinking water projects, the community must guarantee monetary contributions, in kind, and above all, that they are the ones who build their own latrines with the support of our technical team. This guarantees that the population knows their infrastructure and can make the necessary rehabilitations or build new latrines.
In all our projects, we analyze the sanitation conditions in the schools and when there is an evident need, we proceed to include an Improved Sanitation component, which consists of the rehabilitation of infrastructure, sinks and latrines, or we build a sink and two latrines in each school: one for girls and one for boys, guaranteeing more privacy and greater safety.
We have experience with other alternative sanitation solutions such as: washing area, household drainage and ecological toilets.
“There is no life without water.”