More than 60% Africans without proper sanitation

NEW YORK: In the UN-declared International Year of sanitation, a report by WHO and UNICEF released ahead of the World Water day says more than 60 per cent Africans lack access to a proper toilet.

The UN marks the day with an aim to raise awareness to the plight of 2.6 billion people worldwide who live without toilets in their homes and are therefore vulnerable to numerous health risks.

The problem gains multi-dimensional effects as lack of proper sanitation leads to contamination of water, soil and food with bacteria, viruses and parasites (from human excreta), which in turn causes diarrhoea, the second largest killer of children in developing countries.

"Sanitation is a cornerstone of public health," said Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization.

"Improved sanitation contributes enormously to human health and well being, especially for girls and women," Chan asserted.

Of the 2.6 billion people without toilets in their homes, nearly 1 billion are children. The two agencies approximate that 1.2 billion people gained access to improved sanitation between 1990 and 2004, but at the current rate, 2.4 billion people will still be without basic sanitation in 2015.

"The absence of adequate sanitation has a serious impact on health and social development, especially for children," Ann M Veneman, Executive Director, UNICEF, pointed.

She noted that enhanced support for improving sanitation will save lives and speed up progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals, eight anti-poverty objectives with a target date of 2015.