Sanitation
Lack of sanitation for 2.4 billion people undermining
health improvements - UNICEF, WHO
Final MDG progress report on water and sanitation released
By WASHplus
L
ack of progress on sanitation threatens to undermine
the child survival and health benefits from gains in
access to safe drinking water, warn WHO and UNICEF
in a report tracking access to drinking water and sanitation
against the Millennium Development Goals.
The Joint Monitoring Programme report, Progress on
Sanitation and Drinking Water: 2015 Update and MDG
Assessment, says worldwide,
1 in 3 people, or 2.4 billion,
are still without sanitation
facilities – including 946
million people who defecate
in the open. “What the
data really show is the need
to focus on inequalities as
the only way to achieve
sustainable progress,” said
Sanjay Wijesekera, head of
UNICEF’s global water,
sanitation and hygiene programmes.
“The global model so far has been that the wealthiest
move ahead first, and only when they have access do the
poorest start catching up. If we are to reach universal
Fast Facts And Figures on Sanitation
• Over 1.5 million children under five die each year
as a result of diarrhoea. It is the second most
common cause of child deaths worldwide.
• Handwashing with soap at critical times - including
before eating or preparing food and after using the
toilet - can reduce diarrhoea rates by more than 40 per
cent.
• Handwashing with soap can reduce the incidence of
acute respiratory infections (ARI’s) by around 23 per
cent.
• Pneumonia, is the number one cause of mortality
among children under five years old, taking the lives
of an estimated 1.8 million children per year.
• Handwashing can be a critical measure in controlling
pandemic outbreaks of respiratory infections. Several
studies carried out during the 2006 outbreak of severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) suggest that washing
hands more than 10 times a day can cut the spread of the
respiratory virus by 55 per cent.
• Handwashing with soap has been cited as one of the
most cost-effective interventions to prevent diarrhoeal
related deaths and disease.
• A review of several studies shows that handwashing in
access to sanitation by 2030, we need to ensure the
poorest start making progress right away.”
Access to improved drinking water sources has been a
major achievement for countries and the international
community. With some 2.6 billion people having gained
access since 1990, 91 per cent of the global population
now have improved drinking water – and the number
is still growing. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, 427
million people have gained access – an average of 47,000
people per day every day for 25 years. The child survival
gains have been substantial. Today, fewer than 1,000
children under five die each day from diarrhoea caused
by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene, compared to
over 2,000 15 years ago.
On the other hand, the progress on sanitation has been
hampered by inadequate investments in behaviour change
campaigns, lack of affordable products for the poor,
and social norms which accept or even encourage open
defecation. Although some 2.1 billion people have gained
access to improved sanitation since 1990, the world has
missed the MDG target by nearly 700 million people.
Today, only 68 per cent of the world’s population uses an
improved sanitation facility – 9 percentage points below
the MDG target of 77 per cent.
institutions such as primary schools and daycare centers
reduce the incidence of diarrhoea by an average of 30
per cent.
• Rates of handwashing around the world are low.
Observed rates of handwashing with soap at critical
moments – i.e, before handling food and after using the
toilet - range from zero per cent to 34 per cent.
• A recent study shows that handwashing with soap by
birth attendants and mothers significantly increased
newborn survival rates by up to 44 per cent.
• Water alone is not enough; yet soap is rarely used for
handwashing. The lack of soap is not a significant
barrier to handwashing – with the vast majority of even
poor households having soap. Soap was present in 95
per cent of households in Uganda, 97 per cent of
households in Kenya and 100 per cent of households
in Peru. Laundry, bathing and washing dishes are seen as
the priorities for soap use.
• New studies suggest that handwashing promotion
in schools can play a role in reducing absenteeism among
primary school children. In China, for example,
promotion and distribution of soap in primary schools
resulted in 54 per cent fewer days of absence among
students compared to schools without such an
intervention.
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • July - August 2015
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