Japan donated 165,000 SaTo toilet pans worth almost one million dollars for the Urban Productive Safety Net Programme, a national social support initiative for the low-income or disadvantaged segment of the population. The donation is expected to benefit 750,000 people. The pans, which use a mechanical water seal, were donated on behalf of the LIXIL Corporation, a Japanese firm involved in the manufacture of construction materials and housing equipment. Initiated after a rapid sanitation survey, the pans close off pit latrines from the openair, thereby decreasing odours and preventing the transmission of diseases. The donation is part of a four-million-dollar grant from Japan aimed at reducing human-to-human transmission of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Most of the beneficiaries are residents of Addis Abeba, and the installation of the latrines is expected to be completed at the end of March 2021.