Encouraging Progress for Sanitation Workers

The following post is about the YouTube video entitled, "Can a Toilet Help Lift India's Untouchables out of Poverty?" posted by Journeyman Pictures and produced in 2008.

Lack of access to sanitation clearly causes  health problems. Pathogens transmitted through contacts with human waste or through consumption of contaminated food and water can cause a myriad of diseases that claim the lives of so many children and adults worldwide, each year. A World Health Organization estimate of the disease burden of lack of access to sanitation to be 4.0% of all deaths and 5.7% of the total DALY's, each year (Pruss et al., 2004).

The problem of sanitation in this video is portrayed as a public health problem, technological problem, an economic problem, and a social problem. A solution to the problem of sanitation cannot come only from the discipline of public health, or engineering, or economics, or social science. A solution with a chance for success must address all parts of the problem of sanitation.

The video demonstrates some of the technologically-innovated alternatives to open defection that the Sulabh International Social Service Organization has implemented. Solar composting, and dry composting toilets can be installed in urban areas as public toilets that don't contaminate groundwater and recycle the human waste into fertilizer for crops. It also demonstrates how these facilities can charge a small user fee and collect enough revenues to sustain their own operation. This is important to Dr. Phatak, because it frees him from relying upon government support and conditional grants. SISSO can freely choose what programs they would like to start, where they would like to start them and who they would like to employ and support. Perhaps the most important part of the sanitation work that SISSO does is addressing the strict socio-economic stratification that exists within the caste system that exists in the urban areas they serve. By providing more formal employment for the sanitation workers, members of the lowest caste, they are no longer forced to work in a manner that does not relfect their human dignity. Their work in the streets is discussed in detail at 13:45 in the video.

SISSO may not be able to directly address the stigma the workers face, but they are able to offer housing and improved wages. The housing provision would, in my opinion, provide some stability and security in the lives of sanitation workers. A tour of one of the living quarters can be seen at the 11:45 video mark, and it appears that these living conditions are much improved from the tents in the streets shown in early portions of the video. The increase in stability and safety will allow them to use their increased wages to gain access to better health services and food.

The central mission of the SISSO is to improve the lives of the "untouchables". They recognize that improved sanitation is a means to improved wages, food security and social conditions as well as improved health. They also recognize that the caste system places limitations on how much social progress can be made, unless the employment conditions forced onto "untouchables" can be addressed.

Citation:
Prüss, Annette, David Kay, Lorna Fewtrell, and Jamie Bartram. "Estimating the Burden of Disease from Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene at a Global Level." Environmental Health Perspectives 110.5 (2002): 537-42. Web.