Athena Infonomics' Heston Jackson and Population Services International/Ethiopia's Mekdim Hailu recently co-authored a profile of the eastern Liberian community of Baila. This profile describes how the USAID-funded Countywide Sanitation Activity (CWSA) is working to increase sanitation access in communities like Baila by introducing an affordable and innovative solution known as the "safe toilet" (SATO), as part of an effort to combat open defecation.

Baila suffers from a lack of access to improved toilets—despite a law requiring them in each household. Since the CWSA began its work in Baila, it has facilitated the installation of 15 toilets in the community. And because SATOs can be sold by leveraging market forces and partnerships with local wholesalers and retailers to satisfy demand for supplies, the importation from manufacturers helps to create a sustainable supply chain in the region.

Click here to learn more about Baila and the lives that have been changed by the CWSA.

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Photo Credit: Alieu A. Swaray