The issue of hygiene in households must be treated with the seriousness it deserves, right from the village level, lawmakers have said

They said this on Tuesday in different districts in the Southern Province as they concluded the tour to assess several socio-economic programmes, as part of a countrywide activity by legislators, which started last week on January 18.

The activities evaluated during the tour include nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, fertiliser use, availability of market for farmers’ produce as well as development projects in each district of the country.

"We are happy to note some improvement on many indicators…the number of children suffering from malnutrition has reduced but the most pressing issue that we noted was the persistent lack of hygiene,” said MP Innocent Kayitare, who alongside Jacqueline Mukakanyamugenge toured Huye.

He said that this continues to come up much as they had pointed it out to relevant authorities during their similar tour last year.

The legislators specifically pointed out the issue of lack of toilets in some households or poor hygiene in those that are available which exposes families, especially children to diseases.

"When a person builds a house, you realise that they do not include toilet in their plans. Some of the toilets are not covered, others have no doors, and there are a few households having no toilets,” he said.

MP Speciose Mukandutiye, who led the delegation of MPs who toured Gisagara District, also said they discovered a similar situation during their tour.

MPs said there are vulnerable people like the elderly who cannot afford to construct for themselves decent toilets and should be helped as soon as possible.

The Executive Secretary of Kinazi Sector in Huye District, Vital Migabo, said there has been improvement in health insurance adherence, farm produce and road construction, but admitted many toilets are not meeting the required standards.

"We have taken measures to sensitise people to make this a priority, including setting up a committee to monitor household hygiene as regularly as possible,” he said.