Improving sanitation, world's biggest dev't challenge
Improving sanitation for an estimated 2.6 billion people, including 980 million children, is one of the single biggest development challenges the world faces today, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.
Thousands of women and children die every day from largely preventable causes, such as diarrhoeal diseases which are the second biggest killer of children under five, to which the lack of proper sanitation plays a part, the UNICEF said.
Though more than 1.2 billion people worldwide have gained access to improved sanitation between 1990 and 2004, an estimated 2.6 billion people --including 980 million children-– have yet to be reached. This is one of the single biggest development challenges facing the world today, it added.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that access to sanitation is one of the most "overlooked, and underserved human needs."
The International Year of Sanitation, which started January 1, was established to achieve the Millennium Development Goal number 7 which is to ensure environmental sustainability, which includes cutting the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation at least into half.
Improved sanitation includes clean, safe toilets, wastewater management and hygiene promotion, all of which prevent the transfer of pathogens in human excreta, the UNICEF said.
It warned that when not treated safely, it adversely impacts health, often deprives children of getting an education, and impedes social and economic development.
Lack of improved sanitation in schools is an important underlying factor in absenteeism and poor classroom performance due to illness, low enrolment and early school dropout, especially for girls whose parents may remove them from the education system when they start menstruating.
In some areas of the world, the lack of toilets even exposes women and girls to violence and abuse as some are only able to defecate only after nightfall and in secluded areas.
Proper sanitation, including handwashing with soap, averts the spread of diarrhoeal disease, which is the second biggest killer of children under five.
The agency said improving sanitation leads to improved health, dignity, social and economic development, protects the environment and helps people break the cycle of poverty. (PNA)