WHO-Unicef 71% of Pakistan’s rural population does not have imp. Sanitation

[Veeru]

WHO-Unicef: 71% of Pakistan’s rural population does not have the facilities of improved sanitation



ACCORDING to the Joint Monitoring Programme of WHO and Unicef, 71 per cent of Pakistan’s rural population does not have the facilities of improved sanitation, and 40 per cent of the rural population resort to open defecation.

Similar figures for Sindh are high, due to abject poverty in Sindh and, inability of the Sindh government to provide sanitation facilities due to political insensitivities and imbalanced priorities.

Sanitation, like education and health, is an essential force in the fight against poverty. Experience shows that investments in basic sanitation can help lift people out of poverty, disease and premature death. Meeting the need of the poor women, men, and children for a private, clean toilet in Sindh, something taken for granted in Sindh government today, is both possible and imperative.

Sanitation is vital for human health and hygiene. A WWF report says “20 to 40 per cent of the hospital beds in Pakistan are occupied by patients suffering from water-related diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery and hepatitis, which are responsible for one third of all deaths.” These diseases would not be there if people had proper sanitation facilities.

Link between sanitation to health is not just theoretical. A recent citywide sanitation drive in Salvador, Brazil resulted in a 43 per cent fall in the prevalence of diarrhoea in the poorest areas of the city.

Sanitation generates economic benefits. A donor agency report shows that improved sanitation in developing countries yields about $9 worth of benefits for every $1 spent. Estimates from the WHO suggest that the time saved by people using a toilet close to home alone would have an annual economic value in excess of $114 billion.

In rural Sindh, the coverage for improved sanitation is simply hopeless – less than 10 per cent.

One of the most alarming consequences of poor sanitation is that it is the biggest killer of children under the age of five around the world. Some 9.7 million children die before reaching the age of five, 2.4 million of them due to poor sanitation.

F. H. MUGHAL
Karachi

Sanitation conditions in interior Sindh | Newspaper | DAWN.COM

 

[blooboy]

Quoting similar kind of report Pakistanis used to make fun of sanitary conditions of India. What do they have to say now?

 

[hawx]

woh woh wat do we have here !
karma is a ***** !

 

[waz]

And 85% of rural Indians don't have access to any sanitation what so ever.

BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In pictures: India's sanitation struggle

You also may want to look up the term "improved sanitation" and no sanitation. The latter is far worse and that describes India. I can't see what you are gloating about.

 

[Nitin Goyal]

And 85% of rural Indians don't have access to any sanitation what so ever.

BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In pictures: India's sanitation struggle

You also may want to look up the term "improved sanitation" and no sanitation. The latter is far worse and that describes India. I can't see what you are gloating about.

where it is written 85% ??

 

[karan.1970]

Most of Pakistanis fooled by the blogs of Mr Riaz and likes, do not realize that most numbers touted in them are based on survey data of 2001 or 2003 (even if the report is dated 2010) since such surveys happen once or twice in a decade. 2001-2002 was the point of inflexion for Indian economy where it started shooting up and 2005 was point of inflexion for Pakistani economy where it started its downward spiral (even thought the economic indicators took another couple of years to start showing)..

So today India with a decade of upswing and Pakistan with half a decade of downward spiral are very different from what is reflected in these reports..

The situation of today, will start becoming visible as the new reports from 2012-2013 start using newer census data..

 

[waz]

where it is written 85% ??

The part about only 15% of rural Indians having access to a toilet.

 

[Nitin Goyal]

The part about only 15% of rural Indians having access to a toilet.

can you post that part from the thread ? Thanks

Anyways guys it is a 4 year old thread based on some 10 years old data

 

[fd24]

where it is written 85% ??

Tell you what Mr Goyal il do the maths for you. The article says 15% Indians have access to a toilet hence one can deduce the fact 85% dont. Its not rocket science.
I take no pleasure in discussing threads based on discussing how poor and less well off people struggle in our homelands. To have karma as Hawx suggests and general satisfaction by Indians on here shows the mindset you guys have. If you guys were from the land of dreams one could understand but as you guys dont then i think you should simply look at yourselves and ask do threads like this give me genuine satisfaction? You decide
It is a poor statistical record and i hope the corrupt politicos realize what they have done to the infrastructure in our country. I hope things improve in our neighbours land too

 

[shuntmaster]

Lack of sanitation costs Pakistan 3.9% of GDP: Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has the worst sanitary conditions in the South Asian region and its total economic impact amounts to a loss of Rs343.7 billion, which is equivalent to around 3.9% of Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP), the Media Scrap Book reveals.
Media Scrap Book, collection of around 100 selected stories published in print and electronic media, compiled by the WashMedia-South Asia – a representative body of journalists from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka working on water, sanitation and hygiene.
The book was launched in Islamabad on Tuesday at the National Press club. It revealed that 52,000 children die annually due to diarrhea in Pakistan. It also reveals that in Pakistan, 14 million people still do not have access to safe drinking water and over 90 million are without improved sanitation. “40 million people – nearly one fourth of the total population – in Pakistan practice open defecation,” the book mentions.
Quoting data from various studies, the book points out that approximately 50 million people defecate in the open and an estimated 8 million people use shared toilets.
Pakistan, along with other South Asian nations, is facing a daunting challenge to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to its citizens. Around a billion people in the region don’t use improved sanitation facilities and 700 million practice open defecation compromising their dignity.
Despite such conditions and several high-level political commitments to reverse this situation, governments in South Asia have been unable to provide these fundamental services, the Media Scrap Book observed.
Members of WashMedia-South Asia, including Amar Guriro, Abid Qayyum Sulari, Shafqat Munir and Mustafa Talpu attended the book’s launching ceremony.
The WashMedia-South Asia comprises of 32 media members from all the five South Asian countries and is working for the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector since January 2011. So far, the members of the regional group have reported more than 1000 stories on WASH issues.
The members of the regional group, through their stories, suggested that the single and most important developmental challenge in South Asia is to end the sanitation and hygiene crisis, something the concerned governments had acknowledged during the 4th South Asian Conference on Sanitation.

 

[forcetrip]

Defecating in the open in villages means they crap in the fields or out house constructs made to gather nutrients for the fields. Primitive but encouraged by towns. Whats the open defecation % in the cites?

 

[RiazHaq]

Pakistan has a long way to go to fix its sanitation problems but it's certainly nt the worst in South Asian region.

India will not reach its Millennium Development Goal on sanitation before 2047, while Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal will not achieve the target before 2028, according to a United Nations report released on World Toilet Day last year.

The WaterAid report titled "Off-track, off-target: Why investment in water, sanitation and hygiene is not reaching those who need it most" says that 818 million Indians and 98 million Pakistanis lack access to toilets. It also reports that 148 million Indians and 18 million Pakistanis do not have adequate access to safe drinking water.

Haq's Musings: India & Pakistan Off-Track, Off-Target on Toilets

 

[ajtr]

can open a branch of sulabh in pakistan too supplying DRDO's bio-tiolets.those are quite easy to install and good for nature conservation that even indian railways is going for it to install them on its coaches instead of open hole toilets craping the stations and tracks.