Liberia Loses US$17.5M Annually Due to Open Defecation, Poor Sanitation – World Bank

                                  A toilet house in West Point, along the Messurado River in Monrovia. Courtesy Liberian Observer

According to a March 2012 study recently released in Monrovia by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), 1.2 million Liberians use unsanitary or shared latrines, whilst another 1.7 million have no latrine at all and defecate in the open. According to the study’s results, the poorest population is almost 7 times more likely to practice open defecation than the richest. The Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program observed that Liberia’s economy loses US$17.5 million (2.0 percent of GDP) each year due to poor sanitation.

The report says that US$1.9 million is lost each year in access time, adding that a Liberian practicing open defecation spends almost 2.5 days a year finding a private location to defecate leading to large economic losses. This cost falls disproportionately on women as caregivers who may spend additional time accompanying young children or sick or elderly relatives. This cost is likely to be an underestimation as those without toilets, particularly women, will be obliged to find a private location for urination as well. The study added that open defecation costs Liberia US$11 million.  Yet, eliminating the practice would require less than 350,000 latrines to be built and used.

The desk study, Economic Impacts of Poor Sanitation in Africa - Liberia, found that the majority (48 percent) of these costs come from the annual premature death of 3,000 Liberians from diarrheal disease, including 1,800 children under the age of 5, nearly 90 percent of which is directly attributable to poor water, sanitation, and hygiene. Health-related costs accounted for about 40.6 percent of the total economic costs, while access time and productivity losses accounted for about 11.3 percent.

According to  senior water and sanitation specialist with WSP, Yolande Coombes, “We’ve known for some time about the impact of poor sanitation on health, but this is one of the first studies to quantify the annual costs incurred because of poor sanitation . Liberia will not be able to grow sustainably without addressing these costs.”

The study’s findings shows that about US$80,000 is lost each year due to productivity losses whilst sick or accessing healthcare.  The costs get even higher in the event of sanitation-related deaths/funerals that, according to the study, (discounted against future funeral costs) are estimated at US$122,000.

Also, US$8.4 million is lost each year due to premature death, whereby approximately 3,000 Liberians, including 1,800 children under 5, die each year from diarrhea – nearly 90% of which is attributed to poor water, sanitation and hygiene. In addition, poor sanitation is contributing factor to – through its impact on malnutrition rates – to other leading causes of child mortality, including malaria, measles, etc.

It is also estimated that about US$7.1 million is spent each year on health care, which includes consultation fees, medication, transport, and in some cases hospitalization – which place a heavy burden on households and government spending.