Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698835342345.pdf (Uganda)
THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT.

Statutory Instrument 281—6.

The Public Health (Rural Areas) (Health and Sanitation) Rules.

Rule 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Arrangement of Rules.

Preliminary.

Citation.

Application.

Interpretation.

Dwelling houses.

Site of dwelling house.

Certain types of dwelling houses to comply with certain requirements.

Provision of windows and ventilation in habitable room, bathroom and kitchen.

Cupboard or compartment for food and utensils.

Kitchens and bathrooms.


Rules for building kitchens.

8.

9.

Place of kitchen.

10.

Sleeping in kitchen.

11.

Bathroom.

12.

Pit latrine.

13.

Site of latrine.

14.

Maintenance of latrine.

15.

Other types of latrine.

16.

Closure of latrine.

Around the house.

17.

Compound of dwelling house.

18.

Disposal of house refuse.

19.

Food store or granary.

20.

Space to be left between a dwelling house and other building.

Houses for animals.

21.

Animals not to be kept in kitchen.

22.


House for keeping goats and sheep.

23.

Sleeping in an animal house.

Water supplies.

24.

Pollution, etc.

of water supply.

25.

Animals not to get into drinking or bathing water.

26.

Setting aside special areas for drinking water or for watering animals.

General.

27.

Powers of authorised officers.

28.

Offences and penalties.

Institution of cases.

29.

THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT.

Statutory Instrument 281—6.


The Public Health (Rural Areas) (Health and Sanitation) Rules.

(Under section 70 of the Act.)

Preliminary.

1.

Citation.

These Rules may be cited as the Public Health (Rural Areas) (Health and Sanitation) Rules.

2.

Application.
2.

Application.

These Rules shall not apply to the following areas— (a) (b) (c) a municipality, town or trading centre; any area declared under the Town and Country Planning Act as a planning area; any store of an area exceeding two hundred square feet used for the storage of rat-attracting materials as defined in the Public Health (Plague Control) Rules.

3.

Interpretation.
3.

Interpretation.

In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires— (a) (b) (c) “authorised officer” includes a medical officer of health, health inspector, health assistant, county chief, subcounty chief or any chief in charge of a division of a subcounty or a subdivision of a division of a subcounty; “dwelling house” means a building of one storey used exclusively for the purpose of human habitation; “habitable room” means a room constructed or adapted for use as a living or sleeping room.
Dwelling houses.

4.

Site of dwelling house.

No dwelling house shall be sited in any place the maximum subsoil water level of which is less than 10 feet without the approval of the medical officer of health or his or her representative.

5.

Certain types of dwelling houses to comply with certain requirements.
(1) Where— (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) a dwelling house is a round house, its diameter shall not be less than 12 feet; a dwelling house is of a rectangular type and has only one room, the floor area of the room shall not be less than 100 square feet; a dwelling house has more than one room, no room shall be less than 80 square feet in area; an allowance of 40 square feet of floor space shall be made for each person sleeping in the room; the roof of a dwelling house is made of grass, papyrus or leaves, the roof shall be well sloped and well thatched to the satisfaction of an authorised officer; and the walls of a dwelling house are made of mud and wattle, the walls shall be at least 6 inches thick, and the mud in the walls shall be beaten firmly; all cracks in the walls, whether inside or outside the walls, shall be filled and plastered smoothly; no wall shall be made of grass or other similar material.
(2) Every floor of a dwelling house, which may be made of bricks, concrete or well-rammed earth or murram smeared with cow dung or swamp sand, shall have a smooth finish and shall be at least 6 inches above the surrounding ground level.
(3) Every habitable room, when calculated over its entire area, shall be of an average height of not less than 8 feet from the floor to the underside of the roof or ceiling, and no part of the room shall be less than 7 feet from the floor to the underside of the roof or ceiling.

6.

Provision of windows and ventilation in habitable room, bathroom and kitchen.
(1) Every habitable room, every room in a kitchen and every roofed bathroom shall be provided with a sufficient number of windows opening to the external air so as to provide a clear lighting area equal to at least one- tenth of the floor area of the room.
(2) Every habitable room, every room in a kitchen, every roofed bathroom and every latrine shall be ventilated either by leaving 6 inches free of mud between the top of the walls and the roof or by providing through cross ventilation by means of openings which shall be unobstructed except by gauze wire; and the openings, whose total area shall be equal to at least one hundredth of the floor area of the room, shall give direct access to the external air.

7.

Cupboard or compartment for food and utensils.


Every dwelling house shall have a cupboard or a compartment for storing food or eating and cooking utensils and, if the compartment is of a cubic capacity of more than 100 cubic feet, then, it shall be lighted and ventilated in accordance with rule 6 of these Rules.

Kitchens and bathrooms.

8.

Rules for building kitchens.
Every dwelling house shall have a kitchen which shall comply with the following rules— (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) the average height of a kitchen shall not be less than 7 feet high from the floor to the underside of the roof or ceiling; the walls of the kitchen shall not be made of grass or other similar materials; if the kitchen— (i) is built of mud and wattle, the sides of the kitchen shall be at least 6 inches thick, and the mud shall be beaten thoroughly; all cracks in the walls both inside and outside shall be plastered to give a smooth finish; has a grass roof or other combustible materials, it shall be well thatched to be weatherproof at all times; (ii) the floor of a kitchen may be made of bricks, concrete or well- rammed earth or murram smeared with cow dung or swamp sand; and it shall be at least 6 inches above the surrounding ground level; no area of the kitchen shall be less than 35 square feet; and every kitchen shall be provided with satisfactory means of smoke escape.
9.

Place of kitchen.

(1) Where the roof of a dwelling house is covered with incombustible materials, a kitchen may form part of the dwelling house if it complies with the requirements of rule 8(f) these Rules and its roof is covered with incombustible materials.

(2) Where the roof of a dwelling house is covered with combustible materials, no kitchen shall form part of the dwelling house but shall be built as a separate building at a distance of at least 20 feet from the main building.

10.
10.

Sleeping in kitchen.

No person shall sleep in any kitchen or part of a kitchen which is used solely for the preparation and cooking of food; but, if a separate room next to the kitchen is used as a sleeping room, that room shall— (a) (b) be made in accordance with rule 5(c) these Rules; and have its walls made in such a way so as to extend up to the roof of the house.

11.

Bathroom.
11.

Bathroom.

(1) Every dwelling house shall be provided with a bathroom which shall be at least 12 square feet and which— (a) (b) shall, if it is roofed, be provided with lighting and ventilation in accordance with rule 6 of these Rules; or shall, if it is not roofed, be provided with a fenced enclosure screened in such manner as to provide complete privacy.
(2) The average height of every roofed bathroom, from the floor to the underside of the roof or ceiling, shall not be less than 6 feet, and adequate provision shall be made for the disposal of all waste water by means of a soak pit or other method approved by the medical officer of health or his or her representative.

12.

Pit latrine.
Every householder shall provide and maintain in a proper sanitary condition a pit latrine which shall conform to the following rules— (a) the depth of the pit shall be at least 15 feet except, in special circumstances, where a medical officer of health or his or her (b) (c) (d) (e) representative agrees that a pit may be of less depth than the minimum depth required under this rule; the walls of the building over the pit shall not be less than 6 feet high; the roof of the building over the pit shall be weatherproof; the floor shall be at least 6 inches above the level of the surrounding ground, and may be made of bricks, cement or well- rammed earth or murram smeared with cow dung or swamp sand; and the hole of the pit shall be six inches wide and not less than 15 inches long, and shall be provided with a well-fitting cover to prevent the ingress of flies.
13.

Site of latrine.

Every latrine shall be sited— (a) (b) not nearer than 30 feet from any habitable room or any room used for the preparation, cooking or storage of food; and not nearer than one hundred feet from any source of water supply, that is to say, a spring, a well, a pool, a lake or a stream.

14.

Maintenance of latrine.

(1) Every latrine shall, at all times, be kept clean and in good state of repair.
(2) No person shall defecate, otherwise than in a latrine, within100 feet of a dwelling house or any other building, edge of lake, river, spring, well, pool or stream.

15.

Other types of latrine.

A householder may provide, instead of a pit latrine described in rule 12 of these Rules, any other type of latrine provided that the type of latrine has prior approval of a medical officer of health or his or her representative.

16.

Closure of latrine.


When the level of the contents of any pit latrine is within 3 feet of the ground level, the latrine shall be closed for use; the building over the pit shall be demolished, and the pit itself shall be filled with earth.

Around the house.

17.

Compound of dwelling house.


Every dwelling house shall have a compound which shall be kept clean and free from long grass for a radius of thirty feet from the dwelling house; no refuse or cow dung heaps shall be deposited within the compound area, and no annual or permanent crops shall be grown in the compound or within a distance of thirty feet of the dwelling house.

18.

Disposal of house refuse.


House refuse shall be properly disposed of either by burning or by burying it into a pit provided for the purpose.

19.

Food store or granary.

Every dwelling house or group of dwelling houses shall have a rat-proof food store or granary of a design approved by an authorised officer.

20.

Space to be left between a dwelling house and other building.
Subject to rule 9 of these Rules, there shall be left a space of at least 30 feet between a dwelling house and any other building.

Houses for animals.

21.

Animals not to be kept in kitchen.

Subject to rule 22 of these Rules, no animal, except a cat or dog, shall be kept in a dwelling house or kitchen.

22.

House for keeping goats and sheep.


A house for keeping goats and sheep may be used as a kitchen provided that a wall, which acts as a partition to separate the kitchen and the goats and sheep’s room or the goats and sheep’s room and any other room, if any, is built continuously to the roof.

23.

Sleeping in an animal house.

No person shall sleep in a house built for keeping animals.

Water supplies.

24.

Pollution, etc.

of water supply.


No person shall pollute, damage, bathe or wash in a spring, well, water hole, dam or at a place on a lake or river where the public draw water for domestic purposes.

25.

Animals not to get into drinking or bathing water.

No animal shall be allowed to get into water which is used by the public for drinking or bathing.

26.

Setting aside special areas for drinking water or for watering animals.
A council of an administration may, in the case of dams, rivers or lakes, set aside special areas for drawing drinking water or for watering animals.

General.

27.

Powers of authorised officers.

(1) An authorised officer or an officer of the local administration may, in execution of his or her duties, enter any premises at any reasonable time for the purpose of making any inspection or performing any work or doing anything which he or she is required or authorised to do under or by these Rules.
(2) Any person who— (a) (b) obstructs any authorised officer in the due execution of his or her duties; or fails or refuses to give an authorised officer any information he or she is lawfully required to give, or knowingly gives false or misleading information, commits an offence.

28.

Offences and penalties.


(1) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of these Rules commits an offence and is liable— (a) (b) on first conviction, to a fine not exceeding twenty shillings or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one week or to both; and on a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding forty shillings or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one month or to both.
(2) The court by or before which a person is convicted of an offence under these Rules may by order direct any person convicted by or before it to comply with the provision of these Rules of which he or she was convicted within a time to be specified in the order; and if that person fails, without lawful excuse, to comply with the terms of the order within the time specified in the order, he or she commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred shillings or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months or to both.
29.

Institution of cases.

All criminal proceedings under these Rules may, without prejudice to any power for that purpose, be instituted by an authorised officer in a magistrate’s court.

History: S.I.

178/1968.

Cross References Public Health (Plague Control) Rules, S.I.

281-27.

Town and Country Planning Act, Cap.

246.

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