Sanitation and physical disability: challenges to latrine access in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya

Job Wasonga; Florah Bukania

doi:10.3362/1756-3488.2015.016

Sanitation and physical disability: challenges to latrine access in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya

Access to sanitation services such as provision of latrines is one way of preventing diarrhoeal related infections and promoting public health. Provision of and accessibility to latrines for people with physical disabilities in Kakuma refugee camp has, however, been faced with many challenges. We used traditional anthropological research methods such as in-depth interviews and participant observation to explore some of the challenges faced by people with disabilities in accessing and using latrines. We found that fear of contracting diseases, shame, and lack of resources to construct latrines, as well as technological design, hinders disabled people from accessing latrines in the refugee camp. Lack of latrines for disabled people compounds their vulnerability and there is need for a deliberate effort to mitigate this. The agencies dealing with latrine provision and funding need to explore ways of reducing this vulnerability, brought about by a lack of sanitation facilities that are technologically adaptable to their needs.

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