The Ministry of Infrastructure’s  Permanent Secretary Marie Claire Mukasine announced that there would be 100 per cent sanitation coverage in Rwanda by 2012. She made the announcement  at a preparatory meeting of the forthcoming Third African Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene (AfricaSan 3), slated for July 2011 in Kigali.

Rwanda is among only four sub-Saharan African countries that will meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for sanitation in 2015. The other three are Angola, Botswana, and South Africa. In 2008, some 32 African countries signed the eThekwini Declaration [1] in which they pledged to take action to ensure that the MDG sanitation target would be met.

Rwanda has set an ambitious national target to achieve full household sanitation and improved public toilet coverage by 2012. The government hopes to realise full coverage through a total sanitation campaign and community-based approaches.

The estimated 2008 coverage figures for improved urban and rural sanitation in Rwanda were 50 and 55 per cent, respectively [2].

[1] The eThekwini Declaration and AfricaSan Action Plan

[2] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (2010). Estimates for the use of improved sanitation facilities: updated March 2010. Download full report

Related web site: Rwanda - Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA) - Water and Sanitation Sub Sector

Contact: MININFRA, info@mininfra.gov.rw, contact form

Source: Edwin Musoni, New Times / allAfrica.com, 20 Apr 2011

Tags: africa, policies & legislation, sanitation