AFRICA: Senegal awarded in Namibia for its progress in urban sanitation

This is one of the outcomes of the Seventh African Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene (Africasan7) which was held from November 5 to 11, 2023 in Namibia. Senegal was crowned champion of sanitation in Africa as part of the “Country Achieving Award” awarded by the Council of African Ministers in charge of Water (Amcow). This prize rewards countries on the continent for implementing the Ngor Declaration .

In this document adopted in 2015, 40 African states committed to devoting at least 0.5% of their gross domestic products (GDP) to financing sanitation and hygiene in order to achieve the sixth sustainable development goal ( SDG6) by 2030. This is what Senegal has honored. In 2022, the budget voted by the Senegalese parliament for this sector was of the order of 129 billion CFA francs (195 million euros), an increase of 5 billion CFA francs compared to 2020.

This is 4.9% of its GDP (25.5 billion euros), that is to say beyond Ngor's recommendations. The Sanitation Program in 10 cities in Senegal will also have worked in Senegal's favor. This project led by President Macky Sall is implemented in Dakar, Kaolack, Louga, Matam, Pikine, Rufisque, Tambacounda, Saint Louis, Tivaouane and Touba. It concerns the establishment of wastewater collection and treatment systems including five treatment plants, five faecal sludge treatment stations, 28 pumping stations, and the development of 335,349 linear meters of network disgust. As a reminder, the sanitation rate in urban areas is 67% in Senegal.

If this trophy salutes its progress, the country of Téranga must not forget the other challenges still unresolved in terms of health in the territories. An official study recently made it possible to identify 3,546 cases of illegal occupations in the capital Dakar, particularly near lakes and drainage works. This situation calls on the National Sanitation Office (Onas) of Senegal to strengthen the fight against flooding in urban areas.