Sanitation

The issue of sanitation often makes people feel uncomfortable but a reluctance to talk about it is part of the reason why an estimated 2.6 billion people world wide do not have access to adequate sanitation.

The consequences of this are broad and far reaching, having a negative impact upon global health, education, income-generation, gender equality and the right of people to live their lives in dignity.

50% of all people living in the developing world are suffering from health problems such a diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, dysentery and Guine worm disease, all of which can be directly attributed to poor sanitation, hygiene and unsafe water.

1.5 million children die every year from such diseases and many more are left severely weakened by illness.

Furthermore 443 million school days are lost annually due to water and sanitation related illnesses and the lack of sanitation facilities in schools prevent many children, especially girls, from ever completing their education.

Poor sanitation also has a significant economic impact, hampering economic development in the developing world. It is believed that over 5 billion working days a year are lost due to poor sanitation.

Global action to tackle the sanitation crisis

The International community has belatedly acknowledged the extent of the global sanitation crisis and is finally taking action to tackle it.

The United Nations has designated 2008 the International Year of Sanitation, which should greatly help in raising awareness of the issue.

The Millennium Development Goals include specific references to sanitation and have set the target of halving the number of people without access to adequate sanitation by 2015.

It is estimated that 1.6 billion people will need access to improved sanitation over the period 2005-2015 to meet the MDG target. If current trends continue the world is likely to miss this target by 600 million people. To get the MDG back on track will mean that 370,000 people must gain access to basic sanitation every day from now until 2015.

What needs to be done?

There has to date been a sizeable effort on the part of international bodies, national governments and non-governmental-organisations to tackle the crisis in sanitation. However it is evident that if the Millennium Development Goal for sanitation is to be achieved on target and on time then the pace and scope of global action needs to be stepped up significantly.

Whilst increased spending on sanitation and related areas is a crucial component in the overall strategy for tackling the sanitation crisis it is clear that a holistic approach is necessary to achieve optimal results. The UNDP's 2006 Human Development Report advocates a four pronged approach to the problem and can be considered a good basis from which to build a coherent, logical and ultimately effective strategy. It can be summarised as follows:

• Recognising water (and, we might add, sanitation) as a basic human right
• The need to develop strong national strategies
• The need to increase aid for sanitation
• The need to build a strong global partnership- the water and sanitation global action plan

RESULTS UK agrees with, and supports this strategy

What has RESULTS UK done?

RESULTS UK has sought to raise awareness of the global sanitation crisis, stressing the need for massive and sustained global action in order to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people without access to adequate sanitation.

Utilising our grassroots network, RESULTS has written to the UK Executive Director at the World Bank urging greater action on the issue. We have also sought to identify potential ‘champions' for the cause in the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament so as to raise the profile of sanitation at a government level.

More Information

• UN Year of Sanitation, 2008
• World Bank: Water supply and Sanitation

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