Providing Sanitation for the Urban Poor in Uganda

After presenting background information on urbanization in Uganda, the chapter provides an overview of sanitation in the urban centres, where different social classes reside in separate zones. Factors determining sanitation provision and the use of sanitary facilities particularly in the informal settlements, or slums, of the larger cities are identified. Substantial groups among the population do not have access to formal sanitation facilities and have to resort to improvized unhygienic means of human excreta disposal that pose health risks. This situation underlines the need for innovative community-oriented approaches to address the sanitation challenge. By examining centralized water-based systems of sanitation vis-à-vis decentralized options, opportunities for including the urban poor in environmental service provision are identified.