WASH survey data couldn’t be released because Govt said it was concerning – Catanasiga

The Executive Director of Fiji Council of Social Services, Vani Catanasiga has revealed that the Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) survey they conducted was raised with the previous government last year but somehow it was not allowed to be released as the Ministry of Health was very concerned about the data.

While speaking during the fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, Catanasiga says this issue could have been addressed in the last 16 years and they as an organisation had to fight to bring the issue to mainstream discourse.

She also says we should speak to the former Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum on this.

She says the organisation had to be creative about how they brought the data to reality and to be discussed in open forums.

Catanasiga says they tried to work in the Public Finance Management space and the budget advocacy disaster spaces, but they were careful as well so that they don’t harm the people that they worked with at the sub-national level.

Catanasiga says the WASH survey was conducted across the 4 divisions and they managed to bring that to the committee’s attention but some of the findings were quite concerning.

She says they are using that to try and perhaps influence the way they would tackle wash infrastructure.

She adds that despite how we have progressed as a nation, some communities don’t have piped-reticulated water.

Catanasiga says their issues around waste management are pretty concerning and their survey found that there is a high risk of water-borne diseases in communities and informal settlements and these are communities just outside of the Lami area.

Fiscal Review Committee Chair and prominent lawyer, Richard Naidu says people are free to talk and express their concerns now as well as criticise what has been happening.

He says when you talk about all the things that are happening now, it was so difficult to bring out simple information before.

Naidu says over the last 16 years, no one knew and nobody was allowed to talk about these issues.

He says there is a need for everybody to step up and contribute their skills and make things happen.

You can watch the full Straight Talk interview here: