A Tanzanian government program against open defecation, launched in 2011 with support from UNICEF and other partners, building on the country's much earlier Mtu ni Afya sanitation campaign of the 1970s, which had produced some gains in sanitation coverage. A second five-year phase began in 2016 with the explicit goals of ending open defecation nationwide by 2025 and ensuring every Tanzanian has access to safely managed, hygienic sanitation by 2030, and from 2017 to 2021 the government ran its national sanitation push under the public brand Nyumba ni Choo, meaning a house is a toilet. The campaign has coincided with a sharp fall in open defecation, from 7.2 percent of the population in 2017 to 1.3 percent in 2022, with more than 29 million Tanzanians gaining improved toilets and handwashing facilities over that period.
Facts
Program StatusThe programme's second five-year phase ran from 2016 before the government asked it to pivot to COVID-related objectives in early 2020. 1 Sponsoring BodyGovernment of Tanzania, with the UK's Department for International Development / Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office funding a technical advisory consortium known as Project CLEAR. 1 Target PopulationThe general population of Tanzania; campaign messaging directly reached over 20 million individuals via television and radio, about 65 percent of the country's media consumers. 1 Health GoalTo end open defecation in the country by 2025 and ensure all Tanzanians have access to safely managed and hygienic sanitation facilities by 2030. 1 Geographic ScopeTanzania, nationwide; the programme's roadshow events reached 21 of the country's 26 regions, covering 81 percent of the population. 1 Measured ResultsBy a 2021 GeoPoll national survey, 97 percent of Tanzanians had heard of the Nyumba ni Choo campaign. 1 Measured ResultsCoverage of improved sanitation nearly doubled in five years, from 43 percent in 2016 to 72 percent in 2020. 1 Classification
Program KindSanitation or Water Program 1 Connections
Delivers Practice
Entity-backed identity for the program-kind enum value this public health program already carries, resolved to a health practice by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The program-kind fact itself stays on the program unchanged.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Africa, found in there.
Sources
1. Lessons from a Successful National Sanitation Programme: the Case of Nyumba ni Choo in Tanzania (Health Promotion International)
Robert Aunger, Kaposo Mwambuli and Jason Cardosi, Health Promotion International (Oxford University Press), 2023Introduction section
On behalf of the Government of Tanzania, the Department for International Development/Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the UK government’s international development agency, engaged a consortium of service and technical advisors on behaviour change.
Results section, roadshow reach
the roadshow events were successfully implemented in 21 of Tanzania’s 26 regions, which include 81% of the country’s population.
Results section, coverage figures
the programme nearly doubled coverage in only 5 years (from 43% in 2016 to 72% in 2020)
Results section, GeoPoll national survey 2021
97% of Tanzanians had heard of Nyumba ni Choo (GeoPoll national survey, 2021).
Results section, media reach
the programme managed to directly reach over 20 million unique individuals via television and radio broadcasts, which is ~65% of all media consumers in Tanzania
Introduction section, programme timeline
the government asked the programme to switch to COVID-related objectives in early 2020
Introduction section, 2010 relaunch sentence
In 2010, the government rejuvenated their efforts with a National Sanitation Campaign, again with some success.
Introduction section, second-phase objective sentence
Its objective was to end open defecation in the country by 2025, and increase coverage of improved sanitation, such that all Tanzanians have access to safely managed and hygienic sanitation facilities by 2030.
Program classification, entity description sentence
A Tanzanian government program against open defecation, launched in 2011 with support from UNICEF and other partners, building on the country's much earlier Mtu ni Afya sanitation campaign of the 1970s, which had produced some gains in sanitation coverage.
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