Japan hands over SATO toilet pans worth $1m to Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, February 16, 2021 (FBC) -The Japanese Government has handed over to the Government of Ethiopia 165,000 SATO pans worth nearly $1 million donated by LIXIL Corporation, a Japanese company.

The SATO pans were handed over by Taye Eyerusalem, LIXIL Addis Ababa Representative, to Getachew Bedane, Acting State Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, for low-income Urban Productive Safety Net Programme (UPSNP) recipients in Ethiopia.

Present at the handover ceremony were Ito Takako, Ambassador of Japan to Ethiopia, and Adele Khodr, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Ethiopia Representative.

Ambassador Ito said the 165,000 sets of SATO Pans donated by the LIXIL Corporation will be distributed to the most vulnerable beneficiaries of UPSNP as part of the Japanese Government’s grant aid of over $4 million given to Ethiopia through UNICEF to reduce human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus and mitigate its impact.

UNICEF considers the contribution not only as an urgent requirement during the pandemic, but also as a strong support to the sanitation or Open Defecation Free ‘Tsedu’ Campaign which was launched in Ethiopia in November 2019 by the government.

“Although Ethiopia has made progress in improving sanitation, it is crucial that we reinforce our efforts in addressing sanitation in urban areas if Ethiopia is to meet the sustainable development goals by ensuring that basic toilets are built for every household,” said Khodr.

“This ambitious goal also requires empowering all kebeles in every part of the country to end open defecation, a practice that contributes to a high incidence of diarrhea in children.”

A SATO pan is a toilet pan which uses a mechanical water seal to close off pit latrines from the open air. It reduces odours and disease transmission from insects that come into contact with human waste.