For many remote villages in Matabeleland North, a visitor is often greeted by human waste and an assortment of used pieces of toilet paper scattered all over the immediate surroundings.
Some families in the province are still used to relieving themselves in nearby bushes and open spaces due to non-availability of decent ablution facilities.
According to the latest report of the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, villagers in more than half of the districts in Matabeleland North practise open defecation.
According to the report which was carried under co-ordination of the Food and Nutrition Council (FNC), the province has the highest number of people in the country who still use bush toilets.
“Most districts in Matabeleland North had over 50 % of the households practising open defecation. Open defecation in Matabeleland North has been consistently high over the years and this is worrisome,” reads the report in part.
The report cites Binga, with 79 %, as the highest district practising open defecation, Nkayi (61 %), Lupane (63 %) and Tsholotsho (55 %) are second, third and fourth respectively.
The report defines open defecation as the disposal of human faeces in fields, forest, bushes, open bodies of water, beaches or other open spaces or with solid waste.