Sanitation

Throughout the developing world, even today, poor access to sanitation continues to pose grave threat to human health. As of the year 2004, it has been estimated that worldwide some 2.6 billion people lack access to sanitation. In the South East Asian region 183 million people lack access to basic sanitation. (Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme Report – Meeting the MDG Drinking Water and Sanitation Target: The Urban and Rural Challenge of the Decade, 2006).

Sanitation is a broad term including disposal of human waste, waste-water, solid wastes, domestic and personal hygiene etc. The lack of sanitation has a detrimental effect on health status and negates developmental efforts; therefore it has become a yardstick of socio-cultural and economic development of a nation. Human excreta remain one of the most serious sources of drinking water contamination. Lack of sanitation and poor hygiene are responsible for the transmission of diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid and several parasitic infections. These diseases have a strong negative impact on the health and nutrition of children and their learning capacities, and contribute to significant absences from school.

Hence safe disposal of human waste is extremely important for improving community health & hygiene.

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