The Digital Factory (Session 9)

Over the years, One of Africa’s biggest challenges has been Sanitation, Waste Management, and access to Potable Water.

According to a report by Unicef, more than 70 per cent of the population in Eastern and Southern Africa (340 million people) have no access to basic sanitation services. Among these, 98 million people (19 per cent) practise open defecation, 179 million use unimproved facilities and 63 million shared sanitation facilities.

Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio and exacerbates stunting. Poor sanitation reduces human well-being, social and economic development due to impacts such as anxiety, risk of sexual assault, and lost educational opportunities.

In West Africa, water quality and sanitation receive little attention. As a consequence, waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea or recently the Ebola fever are recurrent in the region. Most West African countries refer to stringent WHO water quality standards, but testing and enforcement capacity is very weak.

On the other hand, investment in technology has seen the region uprising in many capacities.

In this edition of Digital Factory, DT Africa Lead Richard will shine the light on African Water, Sanitation and Waste Management, exploring the potential of technology investment in this sector providing the needed drive to cause a shift in Africa’s development.

We will dig deep to collect insights on the position of African investments in technology enhancing innovative solutions for Water, Sanitation and Waste Management.

The main question to be explored in this discussion is:

Is the existing city planning structure ideal for our African ecosystem?