The Value of Environmental Sanitation - Case studies

Updated - Wednesday 02 May 2007

Mariëlle Snel and Jo Smet (editors) (2006)

Sanitation facilities and related hygiene behaviour provide a great dividend in terms of health benefits and human dignity, particularly for women. It is now becoming evident that the most effective intervention against water and sanitation-related diseases is safe excreta disposal, particularly in low-income urban areas and densely populated rural areas, where the focus of environmental sanitation also includes solid waste management and stormwater and wastewater disposal.

This paper includes eight case studies on environmental sanitation in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin-America, including Malawi, Tanzania, Ghana, Bangladesh, Philippines, Mexico and Peru. The case studies look at different aspects, such as the use of human excreta, financial and institutional challenges to make faecal sludge management an integrated part of the ecological sanitation approach, and private sector participation in peri-urban and rural sanitation.

This document hopes to stimulate those who are interested and directly involved in environmental sanitation programmes.