Improved Health through the use of Pit Latrines

Hygiene, or rather the lack of it, is a primary issue Rids-Nepal faces in its work. Some 4 years ago in none of the 16 remote mountain villages where RIDS-Nepal works (with a population of approx. 8’000), there were no latrines or toilets of any kind to be found. It was just not known. People defecated all over the place, especially along the footpaths. As you can imagine, it’s not just unpleasant using these paths, but much more we were concerned about how hazardous it was for the health of the people, especially the children. Diarrhea, Worms and Hepatitis are uncontrolled in these villages.

 

Through the RIDS-Nepal Non Formal Education (NFE) literacy classes, RIDS-Nepal began in 1998 to deal with topics such as hygiene, cleanliness, the use of toilets, etc. Through this gradual awareness raising, people began to see the need for toilets and the steps they needed to make to take some kind of action.
RIDS-Nepal then held several 3 day courses in different villages on how to build a pit latrine for themselves. If the participants built a latrine according to the required health standards outlined in the course, they can purchase the RIDS-Nepal developed smokeless metal stove with 50% financial subsidy (2’000 NRs, or 28 US$).