Daikundi Becomes Afghanistan’s Second Open Defecation-Free Province After Bamiyan

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced that Daikundi, along with Bamiyan, has joined the list of provinces where open defecation has ended — a development the agency says improves families’ and children’s access to sanitation services.

Tajuddin Oyewale, UNICEF’s representative in Afghanistan, wrote in a post on X on Monday, 19 Asad, that Daikundi this year became the second province after Bamiyan to be declared open defecation-free.

According to Oyewale, 627,000 residents in nine districts of Daikundi now have access to sanitation services — access that he said helps create a healthier environment for children.

Earlier, Bamiyan had been named Afghanistan’s first open defecation-free area. The province, with a population of more than half a million, achieved that status in 2018.

The term “open defecation-free” is used in public health programmes to refer to areas where residents use sanitary toilets and the disposal of human waste in open areas has stopped.