Inter Press Service publishes two-part series on toilets, sanitation in post-earthquake Haiti

Inter Press Service has published a two-part series, made possible with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism in Haiti, examining sanitation services in Haiti since the earthquake in 2010. The first article looks at the installation of mobile toilets in displaced persons camps following the earthquake, and says that as relief organizations pull out of the country, the toilets are being removed or left to overflow (Jerome/Daudier, 3/7).

The second article, written by Haiti Grassroots Watch, examines urinary diversion toilets (UDTs) that were installed in the "Tabarre Issa camp -- built by the Irish humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide." Only two percent of camp residents are using the toilets, instead replacing them with flush toilets "that empty into pits they've dug themselves into the former farmland," putting at risk the aquifer that supplies the capital's water, according to the article, which notes, "Concern has changed its practices for other camps" (3/7).