One year of access to school toilets for a child in Tanzania

Compared to neighboring countries Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, sanitation in Tanzania, especially in rural areas, is significantly worse. According to UNICEF (2018), less than one in ten rural households has its own sanitation facilities. Most schools also do not have enough toilets. The few that exist often do not even meet minimal requirements. For example, more than half of schools lack doors on girls' toilets and, according to UNICEF reports, 84 percent of Tanzanian schools do not have functioning handwashing facilities. This is also the case at Mramba Primary School. The state primary school is located in Mwanga, a rural, dry area at the foot of the Pare Mountains in northeastern Tanzania. It is one of the few schools in the East African country that has a branch for deaf children. The few toilets available at the school are extremely dilapidated. Here, too, doors and handwashing facilities are missing.

Another challenge: Often neither children nor teachers are aware of how important it is for their health to follow basic hygiene rules. For this reason, many children still die from infectious diseases that are actually preventable. According to UNICEF (2018), for example, almost half of all diarrheal diseases worldwide can be prevented by improving sanitation and applying simple hygiene rules.