Deplorable Sanitation Conditions in Dhaka Slums: Women bear the brunt of it

Thirty-year-old Aklima Akter of Mirpur's Duaripara slum shares her tiny and slippery "hanging latrine" with over 80 people in her neighbourhood.

The latrine is made out of tin and installed above a waterbody. It allows feces to fall through a pipe and contaminate the water. In absence of running water and hand-washing facilities, Aklima and her neighbours depend on one wash jug (bodna) of water to clean themselves after defecation.

During menstruation, it becomes more challenging for the poorest of the poor like Aklima to wash unsanitary rags inside the tiny space with such a small amount of water.

If she goes out to collect another wash jug of water, she hears taunting words from the male neighbours.

Duaripara slum houses around 6,000 families, where most of the inhabitants pull rickshaws, work in garments or as domestic help, or run small businesses. There are only 40 community toilets in the slum, while the rest are unsanitary hanging latrines. 

"In the morning, there is a long queue outside the latrine, and people like me who stay home usually don't get any chance to use the toilet for long periods. Most of the time, I pile up my damp rags inside the room, and when there is lesser rush, I wash those to use further," said Aklima.

Although it causes discomfort, itching, irritation and urinary tract infections (UTI), Aklima says with certainty that "she has no other options."

The scenario is similar in the Kalshi and Wapda slums in Mirpur. During recent visits, a large number of women and schoolgoing girls were seen sharing hanging latrines.

The challenges of sanitation have intensified since a large number of women workers lost their jobs in the pandemic (mostly RMG workers and domestic help) and schools have been shut for almost a year.

According to a 2018 World Bank report, about 50 million people in Bangladesh use shared, rudimentary toilets and only 28 percent of toilets are equipped with soap and water.

Access to clean water, adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, with special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations is closely linked with the Sustainable Development Goal-6, and menstrual hygiene management is linked with SDG-3 of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all.

However, in Bangladesh, there is still a long a way to go to ensure clean water and decent toilets. Even after paying around Tk 2,500-5,000 per month on rent and utilities, people in informal settlements are deprived of most civic utilities.

WHO LOOKS AFTER THIS?

Based on the experience of working on the "WASH4Urban Poor" project -- supported by WaterAid Bangladesh, Morjina Akter, a field officer of Dustha Shasthya Kendra (DSK), said that reproductive health complications are common among women inhabitants of slums .

"Almost everyone is reluctant to see a doctor for the ailments due to social stigma and financial crisis, while some buy medicine from local dispensaries," she added.

"Sometimes, men intentionally open doors when young girls go to the toilets, just to harass them," said Morjina.

"They even abuse women and girls sexually on the way to toilets, but parents usually force girls to ignore the incidents to avoid further chaos. The girls are usually blamed for the whole incident, which is traumatic for them," added Morjina.

Reproductive health rights activist Monjun Nahar, also the advocacy manager of Marie Stopes Bangladesh, said, "Because in our policy and society, reproductive health rights are still considered as "women's issue", it doesn't get enough priority compared to other essentials like electricity or gas connection, in slums."

"But if we want to achieve SDG-3 and 6, there must be enough prioritisation of health and wellbeing of women, along with their safety and security. They must be kept away from reproductive health hazards like UTI, pelvic pain, uterus ailment, rashes, and allergic problems," she added.

Since Morjina's project works on setting up shared community toilets for slum dwellers with a separate chamber for women's menstrual hygiene management facilities, many women and girls requested her to set up a toilet for them in Duaripara slum during the pandemic.

"I remember one girl was requesting me to install a toilet near her room and asked every person in her locality to manage space for the toilet, as the shared latrine became intolerable for her. Last December, we finally constructed the 30th toilet in the slum, for 80 male and female inhabitants," said Morjina.

Under this project, a total of 99 shared community toilets have been set up in 27 slums of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), while a total of 47 toilets have been established in 30 slums of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).

Although both DNCC and DSCC have separate department for development of slums, DNCC CEO Selim Reza said since these slums are established on encroached land, they don't have the authorisation or budget for infrastructure development in slums.

However, the Local Government Division (LGD), under the LGRD ministry, with financial and technical support from United Nations Development Programme, the Bangladesh government and the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has been working on setting up community toilets in 71 slums under the initiative titled Livelihood Improvement of Urban Poor Communities Project (LIUPCP).

Both city corporations of Dhaka have been implementing this project in Dhaka slums.

According to LIUPCP National Director Abdul Mannan, also a joint secretary of LGD, the project has constructed 32 community toilets in 2020 in both DNCC and DSCC. The work of constructing 30 more toilets in both city corporations in 2021 are underway.

But a major challenge in setting up the toilets is the availability of land in the slums, while keeping the toilets clean is difficult due to the huge number of people using it.

On the other hand, Akhil Chandra Das, project manager of DSK said the management of fecal sludge is another big issue, as the machines used to extract sludge from septic tanks cannot enter the narrow space of the slums.