Sanitation information of the first 1820 IHS houses

Date : 20-03-2017

Team members of IHS met with members of the MAX Foundation on the 23th of February. MAX Foundation focusses on WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) in Bangladesh. We exchanged our approaches and experiences regarding WASH.

For this meeting we prepared the following graph to show the development of the sanitation situation of our families in the first 5 phases.

Direct latrine means that the pit is directly below the toilet. A 100% seal of the pit cannot be guaranteed with this system and it is easily damaged. With an offset latrine the pit is not located below the toilet. This reduces the risk of damage and it ensures an air tight seal.

When IHS started in 2013 we were not yet aware of the importance of an offset latrine regarding hygiene. After the second phase we changed our standards to the standards of the World Bank. This clearly shows in the graph with a sharp decline of the percentage of direct latrines in the 3th phase. In the 4th and 5th phases the percentage of direct latrine drops again. In these phases some families did not yet finish their latrines. These clients will most likely construct an offset latrine. IHS expects a result of 85% offset latrines in phase 4 and phase 5.

The 6th phase (November ’16) and 7th phase (February ’17) are not included in this graph because many of these houses and latrines are still under construction. Our supervisors are still visiting the families from these phases to monitor the situation/progress. Our goal is of course 100% offset latrines for the 6th and 7th phase.

For more information on WASH see the following Link:

https://www.unicef.org/media/files/IntegratingWASHandNut_WHO_UNICEF_USAID_Nov2015.pdf