Kenya redcross Bomet Branch is a Humanitarian society that helps promote not only reponse to emergency issues but also water, sanitation and hygiene.
Sanitation is central to public health, poverty reduction and sust ainable development. The
Constitution of Kenya 20I0 identifies reasonable standards of sanitation and clean and safe
water as some of the basic rights of all Kenyans. Over the years a number of efforts and
initiatives have been directed at addressing and improving sanitation. Many challenges linked
to inadequate sanitation are not
new. Although governments all over the world are doing their
best to improve sanitation, the occurrence of sanitation related diseases remains a significant
public health issue in both developed and developing countries. It is evident that most of diarrheal diseases can be attributed to poor sanitation. Several
deaths especially of under-fives have occurred due to sanitation related incidences. In
Kenya, a child dies every fifteen minutes due to diarrhea. Before 2009, cholera outbreaks
were synonymous with some parts of the country especially Nyanza and Coast province
which experienced frequent cholera outbreaks which led to loss of lives, a situation linked to
inadequate sanitation. In view of the foregoing, the Ministry of Public health and sanitation has adopted the Community
Led Total sanitation (CLTS) approach as a vehicle to deliver basic sanitation in Rural Kenya,
where 87% of the Kenyan population lives (JMP 2012). The CLTS concept was first piloted in Western Kenya and is proven to work. Due to the
evidence indicated by the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, the cases of cholera
have considerably gone down in the country, and this can directly be attributed to the
CLTS intervention in Kenya since 2009. It is worth noting that the communities have shown
tremendous leadership in this intervention in their contexts effectively being led by natural
leaders who have emerged in the CLTS process facilitating its success. This manual will therefore be a guide to facilitate knowledge and skills acquisition of CLTS as
an approach to the sanitation practitioners to effectively facilitate communities in appreciating
health hazards associated with open defecation and therefore subsequently construct and
use latrines consistently. Successful interpretation and application of this manual will go a long way in promoting the
use of latrines in this country as well as directly contribute to improved health.
