Let’s do something about poo

Where there's no toilet, there’s disease. And where there’s disease, death follows. Every year, 1.4 million children die from diseases caused by poor sanitation.[1]

Poor sanitation is one of the biggest causes of death for children under five in the developing world. Yet many of these deaths can be prevented.

All round the world, Oxfam is combining practical, low-cost solutions like building toilets with educating communities about hygiene.


Fighting disease in East Timor

graph showing child mortality in Timor-Leste

Oxfam is planning sanitation improvements for five more villages in East Timor, where only 19 per cent of people have access to adequate sanitation. [2] And with East Timor’s tragic rate of child-mortality where 12 per cent of children die before they turn five,[3] you can see the importance of this simple, practical work.

And as the wet season starts in spring, now is the time to build decent sanitation that will stop diseases which flourish in the wet.

You can help keep children safe from deadly diseases with the simple gift of a toilet.

Poo-mapping in Mauubo Village, Liquica, East Timor

As part of a revolutionary way to fight disease caused by poor hygiene, villagers draw a poo map. Photo: Andy Thomson/Oxfam

Villagers draw a ‘poo map’. as the first step in their fight to stop disease.
Photo: Andy Thomson/Oxfam

Mauubo village in Liquica, East Timor, with the help and support of Oxfam, has developed a new way of fighting disease caused by poor sanitation. It starts with 'poo-mapping'.

Working with Oxfam’s local partner, the community drew a map of their village with all the houses marked out. Each person marked on the map where they go to the toilet. When the village looked at the areas marked out, they realised they were ‘pooing’ too close to houses, water sources and eating areas.

The village realised these actions were spreading disease and having a devastating effect on their children’s health. Disease – especially diarrhoea – was rife.

Pit latrines are any important way of preventing the spread of disease and diarrhoea. Photo: Andy Thomson/ Oxfam
Pit latrines are an important way to prevent the spread of disease and diarrhoea.
Photo: Andy Thomson/Oxfam

The community immediately set to work and, with help from Oxfam’s partner, built pit latrines with covers and vents using local materials. Any training they needed was provided by locally-based engineers, and they also received vital health education to protect them for the future.

Those same children whose lives were at risk have now become the community’s ‘poo police’. Children are often the real forces for change.

With your support we can help people in the poorest parts of the Pacific build a better life for themselves and their children.

You can help keep children safe from deadly diseases with the simple gift of a toilet.

References

  1. WHO (2008) Safer Water, Better Health www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/publications/saferwater/en/index.html
  2. Regional Office for South East Asia, searo.who.int/EN/Section313/Section1526_10893.htm Population with adequate excreta (sanitation) disposal facilities available 19%, 2001
  3. WHO (world health org), 2003 www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/mortchildmortality/en/index.html