Policies such as privatization and small-scale private distribution have failed to increase access to clean water and sanitation in Africa’s slums. It’s time for African governments to start investing in public water infrastructure.

Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya, is infamous for its ‘flying toilets’ – plastic bags filled with human waste that are flung into the streets, occasionally hitting passersby. Without waste management and sanitation systems, human excrement and garbage accumulates in fetid ditches along roads, eventually seeping into water supplies. The consequences are dire: in Africa, more than 1.5 million children die of waterborne disease each year, in part due to poor waste management. Continue reading For bringing safe, clean water to Africa’s slums, market-based strategies are not the answer →