Water and Sanitation
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© UNICEF/HQ05-1711/Asad Zaidi |
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PAKISTAN: A girl gets safe drinking water from an outdoor tap in the newly constructed Jaba camp for some 1,350 people displaced by the earthquake, in Mansehra District in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). |
The Issue
Safe drinking water, proper sanitation and washing hands with soap are indispensable for the survival, growth and development of children. A lack of these essential practices is one of the main causes of disease, malnutrition and death. Over the past two decades, South Asia has dramatically increased the use of drinking water from improved sources, and is on track to meet that MDG target for water supply. However, more than one billion people in South Asia still lack basic sanitation, which remains the region’s biggest public-health threat, and as of 2008, the region remains off track for the sanitation MDG target.
South Asia is home to 1,030 million people living without sanitation, more than a third of the world’s total. Worse, 716 million people have no toilet at all, and practice open defecation. In India alone, some 638 million people practice open defecation. The good news is that the number of people practicing open defecation is gradually declining. From 1990 till 2008, South Asia increased sanitation coverage from 22 per cent to 35 per cent. During this 18-year period, 308 million people gained access to sanitation. In the seven years remaining till 2015, 511 million more people need sanitation for South Asia to reach the MDG target for sanitation of 61 per cent.
Urban populations are twice as likely to use improved sanitation facilities as rural ones, 57 per cent versus 26 per cent. Urban sanitation coverage in the region has stagnated in recent years, at about 57 per cent. The number of urban dwellers in South Asia not using improved sanitation facilities rose from 134 million in 1990 to 202 million in 2008.
From 1990 till 2008, some 532 million South Asians gained access to improved drinking water sources, increasing coverage to 86 per cent. Another 156 million need to gain coverage for South Asia to reach the MDG target of 87 per cent by 2015. The number of people in the region not using improved water drinking water sources declined from 297 million in 1990 to 216 million in 2008. Despite the continued conflict, Afghanistan increased the use of improved drinking water sources from 4 per cent in 1990 to 48 per cent in 2008. Sri Lanka has already exceeded its MDG sanitation target, achieving 91 per cent coverage by 2008.
Rural populations suffer more than urban ones because they rely on unprotected surface sources and sources that have faulty construction and inadequate chlorination. At any given time up to a quarter of South Asia’s public water supply systems are not operational due to breakdowns, poor maintenance, declining water sources (now exacerbated by climate change), and ageing infrastructure.
Contamination of drinking water has emerged as a significant problem, especially the naturally high levels of arsenic and fluoride occurring in ground water in areas of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. The problem is greatest in Bangladesh, where one in five of the country’s tubewells exceeds the government limit for arsenic in drinking water, putting some 20 million people at risk.
There are vast disparities in sanitation coverage in South Asia: while the richest quintile has 92 per cent coverage, the poorest quintile has only 4 per cent coverage! In water supply, the disparities are far less pronounced: among the richest quintile 4 per cent lacks coverage, while among the poorest 18 per cent is not covered. There are disparities by region and social status as well in many parts of the region.
Schools in South Asia often lack adequate water supply and sanitation, discouraging children from attending school. Where there are no separate toilets for boys and girls, or where menstrual hygiene management is lacking, girls miss classes or drop out. Water supply coverage at schools ranges from 55 per cent (Nepal) to 80 per cent (Sri Lanka), while adequate sanitation facilities for girls can be found at 30 per cent of schools in Afghanistan to 75 per cent in Sri Lanka.
Taking drinking water from improved sources often does not mean that the water in the homes is safe to drink. Water can be contaminated at source, in transport, during storage at home, or when retrieved from a storage vessel. For populations without safe drinking water, household water treatment and safe storage is a practical solution for households to reduce the risks to their health. In addition to drinking safe water and the safe disposal of faeces, washing hands with soap after defecating and before eating/preparing food reduces disease, leaving children healthier.
UNICEF in Action
UNICEF has learned a great deal in its 40 years of assisting developing countries in the area of water and sanitation.
The need for community-managed approaches has been embraced by most stakeholders, as has the importance of making a range of low-cost appropriate technologies (backed by effective supply chains) available to service providers, communities and families. UNICEF works to ensure community participation in decision making about water supplies and to spread the message that people can stay healthy by simply washing their hands with soap and water.
UNICEF lobbies governments to affirm the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene in the overall development agenda, and to ensure that adequate resources are made available. In Afghanistan, UNICEF is assisting the government on a large-scale project to develop new water technologies as part of the national reconstruction process.
UNICEF has been a major force in raising community awareness about arsenic poisoning and allaying fears that it is contagious. Through its local networks it has helped communities find alternative safe water sources, monitor contaminant levels in existing wells, and mitigate the harmful cumulative effects of exposure to arsenic.
UNICEF has set itself an additional target beyond those of the MDGs, which is to ensure that all schools have adequate child-friendly water and sanitation facilities, and hygiene-education programmes. Hygiene education in schools will be an important influence on the region’s long-term performance in this area.
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