Issue 46 Vol II, August 31, 2007

C O M M E N T

2.6 Billion Wait for Toilets

WORLD had indeed progressed much, but for only a small section that lives in comfort. For the rest, it is a nightmare to get some water or facilities like toilets. There are more than 2.6 billion people, roughly 42 percent of the world's population, waiting in line for toilets that just do not exist.

"No private toilets, no public toilets, no toilets anywhere," admits London-based non-governmental organisation End Water Poverty, following a survey of some of the world's poorest nations in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The organisation, whose global campaign calls for "water and sanitation for all", declares: "The international effort on sanitation and water is in disarray." Why do sanitation and water remain low priorities? "A lack of political will to push through changes that benefit the poorest and the most vulnerable people in the world." The United Nations admits this harsh reality and plans to launch the "International Year of Sanitation" in November.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) points out that more than one billion people worldwide have gained access to improved sanitation over the past 14 years. Still, an estimated 2.6 billion people, including 980 million children, have lagged behind. Children are especially vulnerable to diseases caused by lack of proper sanitation. Poor sanitation and hygiene and unsafe water claim the lives of an estimated over 1.5 million children under the age of five every year.

At any one time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases, according to the Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO). Statistics indicate that in 38 of the 46 African countries more children under the age of five die from diarrhoea than HIV/AIDS. Still, HIV/AIDS gets much more attention internationally than diarrhoea, caused by inadequate sanitation and lacking hygiene.

In a publication titled "Water for Life Decade, 2005-2015", the United Nations has reinforced the grim facts and statistics relating to water and sanitation. "Lack of safe water and adequate sanitation is the world's single largest cause of illness," it says, and "can spread such diseases as diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, trachoma and tapeworms -- many of which can be fatal to people in the developing world."

And there are other water-associated diseases, such as malaria and filariasis that affect vast populations worldwide. Malaria alone kills more than one million people every year.

United Nations is calling for increased investments in sanitation infrastructure such as latrines and toilets in homes and in every school. It is also seeking the participation of women in the planning and designing of water and sanitation facilities -- looking at both issues from gender perspectives.

Other recommendations are: programmes on water, sanitation and hygiene education in every school; effective and sustained advocacy on water, sanitation and hygiene at all levels; and making water and sanitation a priority in disaster-response planning.

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