WHO:Poor Sanitation Undermining Global Health Improvements

A total of one in three people from across the globe are still without adequate sanitation facilities, severely undermining the progress made in child survival rates and health benefits.

The World Health Organization released a report on Tuesday detailing the progress on sanitation and drinking water. According to their report, 2.4 billion global citizens are still without adequate sanitation facilities, including the 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 access to sanitation by 2030, we need to ensure the poorest start making progress right away.”

Access to clean drinking water sources has improved in the last two decades, with some 2.6 billion people having gained access since 1990. According to WHO, 91 per cent of the global population now have improved drinking water, and the number is still growing. Moreover, the child survival gains have also been substantial, as fewer than 1,000 children under 5 die each day from diarrhoea caused by inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene. This rate is compared to the over 2,000 dying every day just 15 years ago.

Basic sanitation facility in a shanty town in Ghana. (Photo Credit: file photo.)

Despite moving forward in some aspects, the progress on sanitation has been hampered by inadequate investments in lack of affordable products for the poor, and social norms which accept or even encourage open defecation. In fact, only 68 per cent of the world’s population uses an improved sanitation facility, falling nine percent behind the Millennium Development Goals’ target of 77 per cent.

“Until everyone has access to adequate sanitation facilities, the quality of water supplies will be undermined and too many people will continue to die from waterborne and water-related diseases,” said Dr Maria Neira, Director of the WHO Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

Rural areas are home to seven out of ten people without access to proper sanitation facilities, and nine out of ten people defecate in the open.

Access to adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene is critical in the prevention and care of 16 of the 17 common tropical diseases, including trachoma, intestinal worms, and schistosomiasis. In addition, the practice of open defecation is also linked to a higher risk of stunting—or chronic malnutrition—which affects 161 million children worldwide.

“To benefit human health it is vital to further accelerate progress on sanitation, particularly in rural and underserved areas,” added Dr Neira.

New Sustainable Development Goals are slated to be set by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, they include an initiative to eliminate open defecation by 2030.