Water in Kampala’s slums costs three
times more than it does in the planned areas such as Kololo and Nakasero,
according to a report of Kampala Integrated Environmental Planning Management
Project (KIEMP).
KIEMP, which is addressing public
health-environmental and housing concerns in Kampala’s unplanned settlements,
is funded by the Belgium Technical Cooperation.
“Whereas people in better-off
neighbourhoods pay sh30 for 20 litres of water, those in poor parishes often
pay sh100, three times more than the planned settlements pay,”
“Many people are, therefore, forced
to draw water from contaminated, unprotected spring wells, exposing them to
health hazards,” the report said.
This was disclosed on Monday at a
media workshop entitled “linking urbanisation and health: key emerging
challenges” at Hotel Triangle in Kampala.
The workshop was organised ahead of
the World Health Day which was celebrated in Kampala on Tuesday.
At the same workshop, Collins
Mwesigwa, an expert from the World Health Organisation, said the poor in urban
areas were being denied access to safe water because of increased urban
planning.
He said more than 60% of the
population in Kampala, which lives in unplanned settlements popularly referred
to as slums, lacks access to utilities and amenities.
As a result, slum areas are
frequently hit by water-bone diseases such as cholera and dysentery, according
to the expert.
“The urban areas are growing without
planning. The disease burden is growing and outbreaks of cholera in Kampala
occur every year,” Mwesigye said.
He, however, added that the issues
affecting urban health were beyond the health sector, pointing out public
infrastructure, local governance and income inequalities as some of the
underlying causes.
“We can’t expect the Ministry of
Health to solve the problem. We need to educate the civil society and the
community on the problem so that the Government can plan better,” he said.
In the 1960s, Kampala did not have
malaria not because there were no mosquitoes, but because the conditions that could
cause the vectors to thrive were controlled.
Kampala used to be called the city of
seven hills, but urbanisation had expanded to cover more than 30 hills.
“Look at the landscape beyond the
seven hills, it unsightly because it is unplanned, with grave health
consequences,” Mwesigye added.
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