“Today 2.6 billion people, including almost one billion children, live without even basic sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That's 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.”
Children around the globe continue to endure needless suffering due to diseases brought on by a lack of access to clean drinking water and poor sanitation. Two years ago, in an effort to speed up efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals, the UN General Assembly created resolution A/C.2/61/L.16/Rev.1, which declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation (IYS). The objective of the resolution is to promote the need for global sanitation.
Why is sanitation so crucial? It only takes a very small amount of feces particles to transmit disease, as "water carried disease' are passed on by water, hands, flies or the ground. Thus sanitation is crucial in the fight against the spread of disease.
Children are more susceptible to diseases, and as the lack of proper healthcare facilities, access to drug treatments and education on disease prevention, children in the developing world are even more susceptible than their western counterparts to preventable diseases. Lack of clean drinking water, indoor plumping, and proper sewage gravely hinder a child's daily life and place them in greater danger of disease and illness. There are five main types of water-related infectious disease; water-borne, water-washed, water-based, water-related insect vector, diseases caused by poor sanitation.
What diseases which can be caused by bad sanitation? Diseases include; schistosomiasis, malaria, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, guinea worm, filariasis, yellow fever, river blindness scabies, trachoma, yaws, leprosy, conjunctivitis, skin infections and ulcers. Many Diarrheal/intestinal diseases, like cholera can cause dangerous dehydration often leading to death. Other diseases like hookworm, can result in anemia and stunted growth in children.
Children bathe and wash dishes in a lake in Sierra Leone, February 2008. © Manoocher Deghati/IRIN
Last month Water launched a new report, Giving sanitation the green light, at AfricaSan, Africa's conference on sanitation and hygiene. The report highlights the serious lack of priority given to sanitation efforts;
“Lack of sanitation is one of the biggest killers of children in the developing world. Yet it is given low priority by donor and recipient governments alike. In sub-Saharan Africa, at current rates of progress, the 2015 MDG target for sanitation will not be met until 2076. It is clear that without an extraordinary effort it will be missed.”
It is clear that the need for proper sanitation systems and education are gravely needed across the globe, and until they are met children will continue to needlessly suffer. Even when proper sanitation systems are in place children and their families must also be made aware of proper hygiene techniques, to prevent the transmitting disease. Furthermore it is crucially important that sanitation standards and needs be met in every country to ensure that sustainable development can take root.
Recent News on Sanitation:
YEMEN: Sanitation services limited, sewage treatment plants poor
AFGHANISTAN: Poor sanitation, bad toilets cause deaths, misery
BANGLADESH: Towards “sanitation for all by 2010"
PAKISTAN: Open defecation-free communities – one village at a time
Other Related Links:
Global Sanitation Fund
Global WASH Campaign
UN-Water
World Health Organization (WHO)
Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council
International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’
World Water Day site 2007
Water Aid
Children pay the price for lack of safe water and sanitation
UNICEF calls for children to be at centre of regional action on hygiene
UNICEF highlights water scarcity on World Water Day
PlayPumps International– uses the PlayPump water system,a merry-go-round attached to a water pump, and aims to install 4,000 PlayPump water systems in 10 African countries by 2010, bringing clean water to up to 10 million people.
Tap Project – UNICEF- Dine at Tap Project participating restaurants around the US during World Water Week, from March 16 – March 22, and donate a dollar for your free tap water.
The Water Project
El Porvenir supports self,help, community,initiated water, sanitation and reforestation projects in Nicaragua.
Water Advocates
