UN announces International Year of Sanitation
Credit: WaterAid / Caroline Irby
On 21 November, the UN announces 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation. The central objective for the year is to put the global community on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for sanitation.
The End Water Poverty campaign stresses that sanitation is crucial to the achievement of all the MDGs. If UN member nations are serious about meeting the goals and tackling poverty then action must be taken to reverse the global crisis in sanitation.
In 2002 sanitation was added to the list of MDGs, aiming to "halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to basic sanitation". Five years on the sanitation target is badly off track; at the current rate of progress it will not be met in Sub-Saharan Africa until 2076 (61 years late).
Members of the End Water Poverty campaign welcome this renewed commitment from the United Nations:
"There is a global sanitation crisis with almost half of the world's population lacking access to even basic adequate sanitation. The cost in human terms is huge, with 1.8 million children dying each year before their fifth birthday from diarrhoea. In the International Year of Sanitation, we are calling on governments to mobilize the necessary extra-ordinary effort to overcome this crisis." Laura Webster, Senior Policy Officer, Tearfund.
"There is now compelling evidence that sanitation and hygiene can bring the greatest public health returns of any policy intervention and yet it remains largely neglected by donors and developing country governments alike. The cost in human terms of inaction is shocking with 5,000 children dying each from diarrhoea and yet the potential for realising significant public health gains in the world's poorest countries is huge. When the case is so clear, why have governments failed to respond to address the sanitation crisis?" Oliver Cumming, WaterAid Sanitation Policy Officer.
"Inadequate sanitation has large impacts on our environment. In developing countries up to 90% of waste water is discharged without any treatment - polluting rivers and streams, contaminating water supplies and exposing millions of people to disease." Patricia Schelle, WWF International, Freshwater Policy Officer.
For more information, for photos or to speak to an End Water Poverty spokesperson contact: Charlotte Godber on 020 7793 4909 / 07876 330351 or email: charlottegodber@wateraid.org/.
Notes to Editor
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End Water Poverty is an international campaign calling for sanitation and water for all. There is a growing coalition of like-minded organisations from all over the world demanding immediate action to tackle this crisis.
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For an up to date list of organisations involved and what's going on around the world, visit: www.endwaterpoverty.org