21-Minute Walk to a Toilet: Makoda WASH Assessment Reveals Severe Water Crisis Impacting Women, Girls, and Persons with Disabilities
A new Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) assessment conducted in Makoda Local Government Area of Kano State has exposed a deepening crisis disproportionately affecting women, girls, and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
The assessment, carried out in May 2025 using the University of Bristol’s WASH Systems for Health (WS4H) tool, surveyed 238 households, 32 health facilities, and 106 schools.
The findings highlight significant gaps in access to safe water and sanitation services across the LGA.
According to the data, 87 percent of households experience their longest water collection times during the dry season. The burden of fetching water falls mainly on women and girls, many of whom walk long distances daily. This responsibility contributes to school absenteeism among girls and exposes women to safety risks as they travel in search of water.
Conditions in schools are particularly alarming. Only 6 percent of schools surveyed have access to any form of water facility, while just 2 percent have functional sanitation facilities for students. Overall, 94 percent of schools lack reliable water access, making it difficult for students—especially adolescent girls—to maintain hygiene and manage menstruation safely and privately.
The assessment also found that the average round trip to a defecation site is 21 minutes. For elderly persons and those living with disabilities, this distance makes sanitation facilities effectively inaccessible. None of the surveyed facilities showed evidence of inclusive infrastructure such as ramps, handrails, or accessible toilet cubicles.
Health facilities are equally affected. On average, health workers travel 330 meters and spend about 27 minutes collecting water. In maternity wards, the absence of on-site water poses serious challenges for infection prevention and safe childbirth practices, placing mothers and newborns at risk.
Advocacy groups are calling for urgent action, urging relevant authorities to prioritize disability inclusion in infrastructure design, address the lack of water in schools, improve safety at water points, and integrate WASH support into social protection programmes for vulnerable households.
The assessment concludes that without immediate and coordinated intervention, women, children, and persons with disabilities in Makoda will continue to face preventable hardships in accessing one of life’s most basic necessities—safe water and sanitation.
