Public Health at a Glance - Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Water, sanitation and hygiene and the Millennium Development Goals Better hygiene and access to drinking water and sanitation will accelerate progress toward two MDGs: “Reduce underfive child mortality rate by 2/3 between 1990 and 2015” and “By 2015 halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation”. Meeting the latter goal will require infrastructure investments of about US$23 billion per year, to improve water services for 1.5 billion more people (292,000 people per day) and access to safe sanitation for 2.2 billion additional people (397,000 per day). Fewer than one in five countries are on track for meeting this target. top How do water, sanitation and hygiene affect health? Water supply, sanitation and health are closely related. Water, sanitation and health are linked in many ways: Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene account for a large part of the burden of illness and death in developing countries: top School health programs
Report shows impact of poor sanitation on world’s health By Barry Mason 18 April 2002 A report entitled “The Human Waste”, issued by the British charity Water Aid and Tearfund, a British relief and development agency, details the horrific consequences of poor sanitation and lack of clean drinking water. Lack of sanitation now affects about 40 percent (2.4 billion) of the world’s population and is expected to rise to 50 percent by 2025. Diarrhoea caused by bad sanitation kills nearly 6,000 children a day—an annual toll of two million deaths. People suffering from waterborne diseases occupy half the world’s hospital beds. Already half of Asia’s population lacks adequate sanitation and in China, India and Indonesia twice as many people die from diarrhoeal diseases as from HIV/Aids. In Africa in 1998, 308,000 died as a result of war, yet nearly two million died of the effects of diarrhoeal disease. In developing countries 80 percent of all disease results from a combination of poor hygiene, contaminated water and poor sanitation.
Poor Sanitation and its consequences | West Africa WASH Journalists Network Poor Sanitation and its consequence By Mustapha Sesay Sierra Leone e-mail mustaphasesay2007@yahoo.com Poor sanitation which has always been associated with Africa, has significant negative effects on the national economy and that 49% of all reported sickness and injuries in Sierra Leone is related to poor sanitation. Lack of adequate sanitation is a major threat to the environment which includes the degradation of the urban environment by the indiscriminate disposal of solid and liquid waste and the pollution of fresh water and lakes by untreated human waste, the result being smaller, contaminated fish catches. The cost of environmental damage includes discouragement of the tourist trade, reduced overseas markets and revenue for fish products, reduced production from fisheries and increased purchase costs for chemical and mechanical clean-up operations. Women work an average of 15 hours each day. Sierra Leoneans are knowledgeable of that concept. Like this: Like Loading...
Overflowing cities: The impact of poor sanitation in urban areas - News - WaterAid Worldwide, it is estimated that more than 700 million people living in urban areas do not have a decent toilet. Of these, 100 million have to defecate in the open. Our second State of the World’s Toilets report, Overflowing cities, examines urban sanitation around the world – an issue that’s becoming increasingly pressing as two thirds of the global population are expected to live in towns and cities by 2050. Nearly all the urban population growth is happening in developing countries, meaning that many are arriving – or being born into – overcrowded and rapidly expanding slums. Often, city planning and infrastructure-building have been unable to keep pace. Nowhere to go Despite having the world’s fastest-growing economy, India is the hardest place in the world to find an urban toilet, with over 157 million people living without a safe, private toilet. But this issue isn’t just restricted to one region. © WaterAid/ Tom Saater A healthier, more sustainable future More money...
Economic Aspects of Sanitation in Developing Countries Water, Sanitation and Economy Introduction (Adapted from WHO 2004) All over the world, mainly in developing countries, diseases associated with poor water and sanitation still have considerable public health significance. In the year 2003, it was estimated that 4% of the global burden of disease and 1.6 million deaths per year are related to unsafe water supply and sanitation, including lack of hygiene. In order to increase the rate of access to improved water and sanitation, further advocacy is needed at international and national levels to increase resource allocations to this process. Economic Value of Water and Sanitation (Adapted from GWP 2008 and HANEMANN 2006) Most people assume that the economic value of a resource, product or service is measured by market price. If it were true that economic value is measured by market price, this would imply that only marketed commodities could have an economic value. Furthermore, also value and charges are two different things. Economic Costs of Water and Sanitation Services
UN-Water: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Though the world met the MDG target for drinking-water, 768 million people do not use an improved source of drinking-water. In developing regions, 87% of the population uses an improved source of drinking-water while 2.5 billion people, or almost one third of the population, do not use improved sanitation. Within the developing world (without counting India and China) in 2011, 870 million people have gained access to improved sanitation since 1990, but there is a 12% increase of population using unimproved facilities in this region for the same 21-year period. Worldwide, 1 billion people practise open defecation, a decline of 244 million since 1990. Access to safe water and adequate sanitation services has proven to be one of the most efficient ways of improving human health. Source: Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, 2013 Update; World Water Assessment Programme, 2009
Handwashing in the Developing World CDC at Work | Hygiene | Healthy Water | CDC Diarrhea and respiratory infections remain leading killers of young children in the developing world, and claim approximately 3.5 million young lives each year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been studying the role of handwashing in preventing these diseases in developing world settings. In a series of randomized, controlled studies of intensive handwashing promotion in Pakistan, CDC researchers found about 50% fewer diarrheal and respiratory infections among young children in low-income households that received weekly handwashing promotion and a supply of soap for about a year, compared with households that did not receive these interventions. The disease reductions were similar whether households were given antibacterial or plain soap 1, 2. These studies helped demonstrate that handwashing can prevent spread of two of the leading killers of young children in the developing world. References Top of Page
Clean water and sanitation - the keys to breaking free from poverty | World Vision Australia What are the benefits of safe water supply and sanitation? It is hard to overstate the benefits. When asked what would improve their lives the most, the majority of people in developing countries prioritise access to clean water. And for good reason. We know that clean water, along with decent sanitation and hygiene, are very effective in reducing poverty. It can help save lives, drive economic growth, keep kids in school and increase opportunities for women and girls. In terms of investment, it’s also value for money. And it would improve life for people of all ages. From the age of 0 to 4 years, child deaths may be reduced. What is World Vision doing about these issues? World Vision operates the largest privately funded rural water, sanitation and hygiene program in the world.
Water and sanitation | World Vision Australia Our approach to water, sanitation and hygiene Create a clean start to set children up for life The first 1,000 days of life are critical to children’s health, and water, sanitation and hygiene is a vital part of this. We integrate our work with maternal, newborn and child health, nutrition and early childhood development – far more effective than addressing any of these areas in isolation. Provide flow-on benefits for disadvantaged groups Inaccessibility to water and sanitation is a major reason why children with disabilities drop out of school. Wash away barriers for women and girls When girls are unable to manage menstrual hygiene, it affects their education, health and overall wellbeing. Get access up and running in every context Almost half of all schools in low-income countries lack access to water and sanitation facilities. Increased urbanisation has also increased urban poverty, and the built environment requires us to adapt.
Sanitation in Developing Countries - The Borgen Project According to joint WHO and UNICEF data, 36 percent of the world’s population lack access to basic sanitation facilities, and 768 million people regularly go without clean drinking water. Sanitation refers to the provision of safe facilities and services for human waste disposal. In other words, toilets or basic latrines. Inadequate access to sanitation and clean water kills 4,000 vulnerable children each day. This contributes to the cycle of poverty for families and communities in developing countries. But the problem doesn’t end there. “Too many people still lack a basic level of drinking water and sanitation. Sanitation is a crucial element to global health, yet it often suffers from political neglect. Sanitation may seem like a nebulous problem, but it can be drastically improved with low-cost infrastructure improvements. Several international agencies and organizations work to ameliorate the problem of poor sanitation. – Mari LeGagnoux
Achieving Water and Sanitation Services for Health in Developing Countries - Global Environmental Health - NCBI Bookshelf The importance of water, sanitation, and hygiene as keys to national development | Water Institute Adequate drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene are all essential ingredients to ensure human health. The same is true for proper wastewater management, which is a basic prerequisite for environmental health. Improving upon these services will bring economic gains while also helping to build resilience given increasing climate variability. Many developing countries are already today struggling to cope with chronic water shortages and the inadequacies of their existing water infrastructure. The world’s drinking water situation is improving. The global sanitation problem requires urgent attention. Hygiene poses another global health challenge. There are tremendous economic gains that can be realized with improved drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. The WHO estimates the total global economic loss per annum resulting from poor water supply and sanitation at 260 billion US Dollars. The burden of water-related diseases curtails efforts to improve public health in the developing world.
Safe water means better health Access to safe water for drinking and cooking and adequate sanitation, is a leading global public health challenge and a major contributor to disease. But there are practical solutions that can turn this situation around. Did you know? More than 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation facilities884 million lack access to safe water Source: Wateraid Our water solutions for communities Our public health engineers and public health promotion specialists work together with poor communities in more than 20 countries to find the right solution. In Phoupieng village, Laos, a gravity-fed water system proves the best option. “Before [the clean water system], the women worked hard. Our water solutions in an emergency Get it right, and lives are saved. Our health engineers and health promotion specialists are renowned for their expertise in providing safe, clean water and sanitation fast, even in the most difficult circumstances. For example, in Darfur and Chad we’re: International advocacy