Over one million Zambians in the rural areas especially have reduced from open defacating to using latrines.
According to a local company dealing in sanitation , Ackros Zambia Limited Director Benjamin Winters one million Zambians were now using latrines to open defection in the bush or shrubs.
Mr. Winters said this was a huge achievement as it has helped the country contain the outbreak of water borne diseases such as dysentery and cholera .
The Ackros Zambia Limited Director was speaking during a celebration held at Ackros research centre in Lusaka today.
Mr Winters said it is encouraging to also note that Zambia has joined other countries in the S A D C region that are working at improving sanitation conditions for the people in their respective countries.
And Local Government and Housing Director Department of Housing and Infrastructure Development (DHID) Misheck Lungu says it is gratifying that people in the remote parts of the country especially are using hygienic defecating methods.
Mr. Lungu says that his department is happy that the general public were now beginning to think differently by desisting from the open defecation in the bush.
He said government is ready to facilitate operations that are supporting its efforts and policies by ensuring that the general public has access to decent sanitation.
Open defecation awareness is yielding positive results across the country as most chiefdoms have since switched to using pit latrines and washing their hands after using the toilet, he added..