Liberia: Greater Monrovia residents call for robust action to address sanitation crisis
By: WASH R&E “Media” Network – Appalling sanitation in Greater Monrovia over the years has been a major challenge for several residents and municipalities in Montserrado County. This condition continues to make life unbearable for several residents, despite the interventions of the World Bank, European Union, and other WASH partners.
Garbage around the 72nd Junction in Paynesville
The intervention by these donors is aimed at creating an enabling environment for water, sanitation, and hygiene in the country.
The appalling sanitary condition over the years has served as a conduit for the transmission of sanitation-related diseases in Greater Monrovia.
The condition remains unabated, as marketers, pedestrians and community residents continue to experience unpleasant conditions due to poor sanitation.
Garbage site along the newly constructed road on the Somalia Drive
In a recent assessment conducted by the WASH Media Network of Liberia, it was discovered that several communities in Montserrado County are going through huge sanitation crisis.
Communities like Soniewhien, the Somalia Drive, Bushod Island, Paynesville Redlight Commercial District, ELWA and the Jacob Town Communities in Paynesville, among others bear the gigantic burden of poor sanitation especially with huge garbage dumpsites.
From the WASH Media Assessment in these localities, it was observed that garbage in these areas has been there for a protracted period with no sign of planned removal.
Huge pile of dirt around the Commercial District of Red Light, Paynesville
Redlight-Coal Field is a typical example of challenges faced by some Liberians when it comes to the issue of poor sanitation.
Marketers in this area informed WASH Reporters that due to the appalling sanitary condition they are faced with health challenges and at the same time losing customers on a daily basis.
They said the unpleasant smell from the dump site; ants and flies have invaded their selling spots.
According to them, they have no alternative, but to continue transacting business activities in this area as a means of struggling to survive.
Huge pile of dirt on the Somalia Drive, Monrovia
They further said that the dumpsite is also used by some unscrupulous individuals to deposit bodies of dead babies.
For their part, residents of the Soniwhien community complained that the main drainage in their community is mismanaged by some individuals for the deposit of garbage.
The residents said as a result of this, there is a serious health risk faced by residents due to filthy conditions in their community.
In a related development, residents and marketers of the Somalia Drive have informed WASH Reporters that owing to the poor state of sanitation, the environment has been polluted due to overstayed garbage.
The affected residents and marketers indicated that their daily movement is hampered due to pollution and contamination created in their communities by the stockpile of dirt.
Jacob Town in Paynesville
From the assessment conducted by the WASH Media, poor sanitation in and around Monrovia continues to be a serious problem, especially the collection and disposal of garbage.
Poor sanitation, according to the WASH Media, gives many infections the ideal opportunity to spread.
Waste and excreta are fertile materials for flies to breed on, and unsafe water to drink, wash with or swim in are among the major causes of human parasitic diseases.
The Group believes that sanitation has important implications for health and human capital development.
Poor sanitation causes intestinal diseases that reduce the absorption of calories and nutrients and contribute to malnutrition.
These diseases kill babies, accordingly, stunt the physical and cognitive development of surviving children, and ultimately reduce their human capital development and earning potential later in life.
Solid waste management is arguably the greatest public health threat in Greater Monrovia.
Virtually no waste management sector, along with a lack of proper toilets, mean household trash, human feces, and hazardous medical waste are randomly disposed of throughout the city, in some areas swelling to stock piles.
Children often walk barefoot through trash heaps, picking through piles that can contain used syringes and bloodied bandages.
Redlight-Coal Field in Paynesville
“There is a serious problem of hygiene in Greater Monrovia as residents continue to throw waste, including feces in the streets, especially in crowded communities and market sites”.
This situation, WASH Media observed, has become so embarrassing, because it does not only give a picture of an emerging health crisis but gives the city a poor human face.
Pedestrians usually struggle to move along the main streets competing with piles of garbage and moving vehicles.
Marketers and residents who are considered the producers of the garbage are always at the mercy of fate as they complain on a daily basis of poor sanitation.
Most of the garbage sites the Media Group describedare polluted with an offensive odor of stale water serving as a breeding place for flies and mosquitoes where water accumulating at dumpsites is spilling into uncovered wells and polluting underground water resources.
