NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, February 24, 2017

In rural Vietnam, 30% of families lack access to sanitation facilities that meet basic hygiene standards. The lack of access to sanitation disproportionately affects women and girls, who face numerous adverse health effects and safety risks as a result.

To address this issue, PSI Vietnam, with support from philanthropist Camilla Hagen Sørli and the Maverick Collective, is working to build a sustainable sanitation market that will increase access to toilets for women and girls in rural areas.

How? 

Partner with sanitation entrepreneurs and manufacturers to make quality, affordable sanitation products and services easy to use. Many rural families in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam use hanging latrines, a method that commonly filters human waste into nearby water sources.

These latrines cause health and environmental risks for rural communities and expose women and children to safety risks. PSI Vietnam formed a partnership with ROTO, a local plastic septic tank manufacturer that previously distributed primarily in urban areas. PSI Vietnam worked with rural sanitation retailers to motivate them to stock, display and promote the tanks to customers purchasing other household improvement items.