Effect of hygiene communication on emptying of urine diversion toilets

Abstract

Diarrhoeal disease is a major concern to the South Africa government. Understanding the relationship between the lack of water and sanitation and diarrhoeal disease, the government has developed a national initiative to provide poor and rural communities with a basic sanitation facility, one of which is a Urine Diversion toilet. This paper includes assessment of the effectiveness of hygiene messages on vault emptying behaviours and the possible transfer of pathogens to hands during emptying processes. The method involves observation of vault emptying behaviours, interviews with key stakeholders and microbiological analysis of indicator species on hands before and after vault emptying. The results indicated that health and hygiene messages were not actioned by the study group and that there was no significant difference between the E-coli and faecal coliforms on the hands before and after emptying. Conclusions from the study were that correct operation and maintenance of Urine Diversion toilet require, health and hygiene education programmes to be ongoing and continue beyond the life of the project.