Water, sanitation, and hygiene are all critical to reducing the burden of water-borne diseases. But 2.5 times as many people lack safe sanitation as clean water.
2.5 billion people—half the population of the developing world—lack access to safe sanitation. 1.2 billion people practice open defecation, meaning they have no sanitation facilities at all, and 1.3 billion people use unsafe latrines. Most of these people live in rural areas, but as urbanization increases, the crisis is spreading to towns and cities as well.
Safe, sustainable approaches to sanitation can help save the lives of children who die from diarrhea and create a world where the poor lead healthier, more productive and more dignified lives.
1.6 million children die each year from diarrheal disease, which is often caused by poor sanitation. Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death among children under the age of five (after pneumonia) and causes chronic malnutrition in millions of additional children. Researchers estimate that effective sanitation services alone can reduce diarrheal disease by up to 45 percent.
New solutions are also needed to address the urban sanitation crisis.
Less than 15 percent of those living in Africa and Asia currently have access to waterborne sewerage, and due to the high financial and environmental costs of this approach, it is not a feasible long-term solution for the urban poor. Non-piped sanitation is the only viable alternative to sewerage for the billions of poor people living in cities and towns, but there is minimal public investment and research into improving non-piped sanitation. As a result, 2.1 billion people in urban areas who currently use non-piped sanitation typically have no sustainable way to empty on-site storage pits.
Sanitation is ignored compared to water, health, and other related issues.
About 10 percent of all government and donor funds dedicated to water, sanitation, and hygiene improvements are focused on sanitation. Where there are investments, they tend to be in large infrastructure projects that serve the non-poor areas. Few countries link sanitation and national health planning, and even fewer countries and cities invest in sanitation planning to inform investments.
The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) sanitation target is off track by up to 700 million people.
The MDG sanitation goal aims to cut in half the number of people without sustainable access to basic sanitation by 2015, but is severely off track because population growth is outpacing progress on sanitation and because some people who gain access to safe sanitation cannot maintain it.
Many people also lack affordable and sustainable access to safe water, yet conventional approaches often fail to serve the poor or to provide durable services.
Basic hygiene practices—such as hand washing with soap—prevent transmission of diarrhea and other diseases, yet are rarely practiced. These water and hygiene challenges can be addressed directly, but improving sanitation also contributes by reducing threats to water quality and contamination by fecal matter within the population.
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