Some 2.5 bln people worldwide lack proper sanitation: UN officials

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-11-20 13:05:13

UN officials stressed on Tuesday the importance for the international community to provide assistance to one third of the world population that lack proper sanitation.

"Some 2.5 billion people still do not have access to improved sanitation and as many as 1 billion people still defecate in the open," permanent representative of Singapore to the UN, Karen Tan, told a press conference held here to mark the World Toilet Day.

In July, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution "Sanitation for All" and designated Nov. 19 as the World Toilet Day to advocate adequate sanitation for the billions of people under poor sanitary conditions, as well as the 800,000 children under five that die from complications associated with poor hygiene.

Therese Dooley, a senior advisor on Sanitation and Hygiene for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), said, "the number of children that die every day as a result of not having access to sanitation is about 1400 every day."

"I think sometimes that's because it's a silent killer and I think we really need to figure out how we can bring the importance of sanitation to people's attention," she added.

"Sanitation is not just an important cause of diarrhea in children, it also has a huge impact on ... the overall development of children," Dooley said, adding that "we are heavily involved globally. We are working in about 90 countries on sanitation and we do many different things."

Since the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), more and more people around the world have gained access to basic sanitation.

A report on sanitation and hygiene for women and girls titled "We Can't Wait" was issued here on Tuesday by WaterAid, a non-profit organization working with the UN, noting that "significant progress has been made towards achieving these targets."

"Since 1990, almost 1.9 billion more people now have access to improved sanitation. But this is not enough. If progress continues at the current rate, the global community will not meet MDG 7c by 2015," said the report.

MDG 7c's target is to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, according to the 2013 MDG fact sheet.

The Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 issued by the World Health Organization shows two-fifths (2.4 billion people) of the world's population lacked access to improved sanitation in 2000.

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