All systems go for 21st water and sanitation conference by AfWA

The concern will form a week-long deliberation in West Africa's Cote d'Ivoire in an effort to look at various possible solutions.

As of February 2023, WHO and UNICEF in a joint report of July 2021 still warn that by 2030, billions of people around the world will not have access to safely managed safe water, sanitation and hygiene services unless the current rate of progress is multiplied  4 times a proposal which is closest to Dr Mbaye Mbeguere,a Sanitation Coordinator, AfWA.

"It is important to do sanitation differently, as business as usual is not working at all, we need to think out of the box to invent some new solutions, and we can't do so without a mind shift," he advised.

According to the WHO and UNICEF joint report, 2.1 billion people of the world's population still do not have access to domestic drinking water services, and 4.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation services an issue to worry the governments.

Valentin YAO, a Sanitation Training Manager at AfWA stated that it is the mandate of national and local governments to work together in order to manage proper Sanitation of the cities.

"That's why we need to provide a lot of technological activities even for the rich and for poor alike," he added.

On the other hand, Joan Mbabazi a journalist from Rwanda, added her voice owing to the field experience that a huge percentage of people out there don't have toilets,and that they desperately defecate everywhere, which easily spread deceased.

"If the governments come to play and take part in constructing toilets in areas where they are lacking then we will contribute to a huge percentage in making a change", she emphasized.

It is for this reason that Africa Water and Sanitation Association (AfWA) and other partners will be holding five days, the 21st AfWA International Congress and Exhibition, twinned with the 7th international faecal sludge management conference where delegates from various countries including Kenya, are expected to participate in muting and tapping into various ideas from different participants to ensure action in adopting proper approach to water, sanitation and faecal sludge management for improved livelihoods.

According to Valentin Yao, Sanitation Training Manager, AfWA, the government owes even the slum dwellers value technology to better deal with sanitation and faecal sludge.

Water and sanitation Journalist, Joan Mbabazi, maintained that when it comes to water and sanitation, people out there don't have the information, even journalists themselves who are seen as the last hope for society lack adequate information to inform society appropriately.

"However much we would like to talk about it, there is not enough information out there, especially the data, so we cannot give to people what we don't know,"said Joan.

The AfWA continental conference on water and sanitation will kick off on Sunday, 19th February 2023 in Abidjan, the capital of Cote d'Ivoire, and will have representatives from various Anglophone and Francophone countries in Africa; with training of African Journalists who are expected to cover the event benefiting from a prior training to help them in understanding the subject matter.