Kenya may not achieve its sanitation goals in line with Vision 2030, the World Bank Sanitation Unit has warned.
World Bank sanitation manager Dr Yolanda Coombes on Wednesday said that Kenya had not made as much progress in eradicating poor sanitation as it should have in the last 10 years.
Speaking in a sanitation stakeholders’ forum in Kisumu, Coombes warned that poor sanitation in the country could also lead to slow mental and cognitive growth in children.
“With poor sanitation, the mental development of our children is largely interfered with and Kenya needs to relook at its sanitation strategy to avert such a crisis,” he said.
The manager said that this has led to stunted growth in children and adults.
“Kenya loses an approximately Sh27 billion due to poor sanitation. This figure should only come down if we hope to achieve the development goals set out in Vision 2030,” the World Bank official said.
The number of children with stunted growth features due to poor sanitation has increased in the last few years, he added.