To tackle the social problems, which lead to huge health and finance related burden on the society, all the south Asian countries are working together evolving a strategy for ensuring clean drinking water and complete sanitation for their citizens.
-
Each one of two South Asians is still forced the indignity of defecating in the open, or using other forms of unimproved sanitation.
- There is a high disparity in access and use of sanitation facilities across socio-economic groups.
- Considerable number of women, children, urban and rural poor and other vulnerable groups suffer indignity, inconvenience, loss of time and energy due to lack of proper sanitation.
- Poor sanitation and hygiene kills a large number of South Asian children every day and frequent diseases cause widespread malnutrition amongst children, stunting their physical and mental growth.
- Poor sanitation causes huge economic losses to households and nations, apart from imposing alarming health and environmental costs for communities.
The endeavour of these nations – supported by international agencies like WaterAid, Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA), Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and representatives of over 150 non-government organisations, civil society organisations and grass workers – have resulted in SACOSAN (South Asian Conference on Sanitation).
A prelude to SACOSAN IV – which is slated for February 2011, all stake holders met in Sri Lanka, last month. “The aim of the whole effort is to increase mutual accountability of governments, donor agencies and civil society organisations, which have committed to provide the citizens with clean water and sanitation facilities, besides building a road map for SACOSAN IV’’, said FANSA convenor, Murali Ramisetty.
The South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN) was started in 2003, with the realisation that a large number of un-served people are living in South Asia. This is a bi-annual, government-led process and is attended by relevant ministries of the governments of South Asian nations.
The first conference was held in Bangladesh followed by the second in Islamabad (Pakistan) in 2006, and third in 2008, in Delhi (India). The fourth conference is scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in February 2011.
“The aim behind this endeavour is to ensure that our present and future generations enjoy a healthy environment, which has clean air, soil and fresh water resources,” said Murali. He added that the issue of sanitation would not be considered merely an infrastructure or finance related challenge but one that requires effective policy. According to Murali, achieving sanitation for all would be an inclusive process, involving all stakeholders at all stages, especially local governments, communities and grassroots groups.
All the government and non-government agencies involved in this endeavour had committed in 2008 – the International Year of Sanitation – to achieve national goals and the Millennium Development Goals on Sanitation in a time-bound manner. A South Asia road map was built for achieving sanitation goals with following action in focus:
-
Advocacy and awareness to sustain the momentum.
- Strengthen community efforts and developing capacities of local governments, non-governmental organisations, youth and community groups to work in partnership for sustainable sanitation solutions.
- Ensure occupational dignity, health, safety and improve the profile and working conditions of personnel involved in sanitation work.
- Mainstream sanitation across sectors, ministries/departments, institutions, domains (private, household, schools, community, public), and socio-political persuasions, so that sanitation is everybody’s concern and prioritised in their respective programmes (eg, railways or tourism agencies promoting access to sanitation facilities as a part of their programmes).
A few common areas, which all the nations zeroed in on for their focus, were –
-
Inclusion of water/sanitation in the constitution as a fundamental right, so that it is acknowledged as an issue directly relating to health and hygiene, for which the governments allocate separate budget.
-
Sharing information on initiatives/interventions/good practices under water/sanitation programmes in different countries.
-
Increasing involvement of government officials, media professionals and community voices, at every step.
Sanitation Updates 