Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene November 2018 Vol.13 No.5 | Page 4

-
Guest Editorial
SANITATION
Globally 2.3 billion people live without access to a basic sanitation
Acces
Sanitation
- The
Challenges
service: to almost
892 million
of these
people practice open defecation.
W
orldwide,
about or 1.7
million
deaths
year sanitation
– 90 percent
are children
to improved
toilets
latrines
since
1990 a —
was one
–
are
attributed
to
unsafe
water,
poor
sanitation
and
hygiene,
of the most off-track Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) mainly
globally. infectious
Today, only
68% Access
of the to world’s
population
has of access
through
diarrhea.
sanitation,
the practice
good hygiene,
to basic
and could
only 39%
of million
people have
access
to safely
and
unsafe sanitation,
water supply
save 1.5
children
a year.
managed sanitation (which includes containment, through safe
In collection
Sub-Saharan
Africa there to
are treatment
over 200 and
million
more people without
and conveyance,
end use/disposal).
sanitation
than
there
were
two
decades
ago,
as
improvements
fail to keep up
Further, 72 of people in Sub-Saharan Africa and 50 of people
with
population
changes.
Only to
four
countries
in the
region (i.e.,
are on
in South
Asia still
lack access
basic
sanitation
services
an track to
achieve
the toilet/latrine).
Millennium Development
Goal (MDG)
target
and, for
on current
improved
The world missed
the MDG
target
sanitation
by almost
700 be
million
people.
trends,
the target
will not
met until
well into the next century.
In addition
to water
the challenges
of have
providing
many serious
millions repercussions.
of
Poor
sanitation,
and hygiene
many other
rural
households
with
adequate
sanitation,
the
world
continues
Children and especially girls are denied their right to education because their
to urbanize,
and cities and
and decent
small towns
will increasingly
bear with
the lack of
schools
lack improved
sanitation
facilities. Along
burden
of
poor
sanitation
—
with
an
estimated
57%
of
urban
water for drinking and cleaning, lack of toilets is a huge sanitation problem.
dwellers sanitation
lacking access
to toilets
that school
provide
a full sanitation
Improved
increases
primary
enrolment,
reduces illness so
service, 16% of urban dwellers lacking access to basic sanitation
children miss fewer school days, increases production among adults, provides
services, and almost 100 million urban residents practicing open
safety
to women and reduces the pollution of water sources.
defecation.
When sanitation systems fail or are inadequate, the impacts on the health of
the
community
on the health
on the burden,
environment
are extremely
Improved
sanitation
leads of
to others
lower and
disease
improved
serious.
Poor reduced
sanitation
promotes
the spread
of health
nutrition,
stunting,
improved
quality
of life, problems
increased including
chronic
diarrhea,bilharzia,hepatitis
and
the
cholera
epidemic
attendance of girls at school, healthier living environments, which
better is focused
spread increased
by human job
excreta.
Sanitation matters
on
the cycle of diseases
environmental
stewardship,
opportunities
and for a
range
of reasons.
Privacy,
dignity, convenience
for individuals.
wages,
improved
competitiveness
of cities, and
and safety
economic
and
social gains to society more broadly.
In many cases, improving sanitation can be as simple as installing a well-
Recent analysis shows that ending open defecation can save
designed
ventilated
latrine transmission,
(VIP) or composing
latrine.
children’s
lives by improved
reducing pit disease
stunting,
and However,
in under-nutrition,
other cases, improving
will be for
more
challenging,
particularly in
which sanitation
are important
childhood
cognitive
rapidly
growing
urban
slums.
Moreover,
while
building
improved
development and future economic productivity. Without adequate sanitation
sanitation facilities, girls are more likely to drop out of school or
are vulnerable
attacks maintenance
while seeking of privacy.
realized
without to proper
the facilities and good personal
hygiene.
A lack of sanitation also holds back economic growth. Poor
sanitation access
costs and
billions
to cannot
some countries,
to world
the using
Improved
coverage
be achieved amounting
in the whole
equivalent of 6.3% of GDP in Bangladesh (2007), 6.4% of GDP in
India (2006),
7.2%
of GDP systems
in Cambodia
of the
GDP
in
innovative
onsite
sanitation
which (2005),
do not 2.4%
pollute
environment
Niger (2012), and 3.9% of GDP in Pakistan (2006). The economic
losses are mainly driven by premature deaths, the cost of health
care treatment, lost time and productivity seeking treatment, and
technologies
must go beyond
the toilets and
include
emptying,
transportation,
Pollution resulting
from improper
disposal
and
treatment
of
storage,
treatment
disposal
of sludge.
wastewater
and and
domestic
fecal
sludge also affects both water
resources is and
ecosystems.
At to
the poverty
same time,
fecal It
sludge
and take great
Sanitation
intrinsically
linked
reduction.
doesn’t
wastewater can provide valuable resources (water, nutrients, soil
conditioner, briquettes and energy) and economic opportunities,
of magnitude so great that it’s shameful. As Ban Ki-moon noted “Access to
especially in urban areas and in water-scarce environments.
sanitation is deeply connected to virtually all the Millennium Development
Source: World Bank Water
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November 2018