Sanitation Updates

On behalf of the Programme Board of the Integrated Support for a Sustainable Urban Environment (ISSUE) programme, WASTE advisers on urban environment and development, Gouda, the Netherlands puts out an open tender.

This is an invitation for a bid for the provision and distribution of ‘knowledge’ for the implementing partners of the ISSUE programme for a period ending on December 31, 2010. The tasks to be performed are related to sanitation and waste management and are specified in the Terms of Reference.

Interested parties who have the pre-requisite experience in running and managing Knowledge Centres, are requested to submit technical and financial proposals and any other supporting documentation not later than 1 August 2008.

This is the second call for a bid. Countries specifically asked to respond, with in brackets the approximate budget allocation (3 years - 2008-2010) are :

• India - [145,000 Euro]
• Viet Nam - [170,000 Euro]
• Benin - [145,000 Euro]
• Kenya or Tanzania - [170,000 Euro]
• Malawi or Zambia - [140,000 Euro]

The TOR can be downloaded from the WASTE website at: http://www.waste.nl/page/1660

The first-ever report depicting country-by-country estimates of the burden of disease due to water, sanitation and hygiene highlights how much disease could be prevented through increased access to safe water and better hygiene.

This comprehensive overview provides the epidemiological evidence and economic arguments for fully integrating water, sanitation and hygiene in countries’ disease reduction strategies — a pre-requisite to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It also provides the basis for preventive action by all relevant sectors managing critical water resources and services in support of public health efforts.

Lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene remains one of the world’s most urgent health issues.

See WHO web-page introducing the report

Download the full document (pdf 2.62Mb)

Related news - see:

Thaindian.com

News.smashits.com

environmental-expert.com

By GILLIAN WONG, SINGAPORE (AP)

Asian countries need help to build cities that can cope with the region’s “unprecedented” urban expansion of more than 100,000 people a day over the next two decades, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday.

(…) The study also said that cities needed to better control their waste and improve sewer systems, particularly as deforestation and climate change suggest that cities should plan for more frequent and intense flooding in the future.

Sewers should be constructed where densities are more than 100 persons per 1 hectare (2.47 acre). Alternatively, a sanitation system made up of septic tanks and storm water or drainage systems could be viable, the study suggested.  (…)

Read all Associated Press

Experts are examining the outflow in several U.S. and European cities, and the data can be revealing. Which city uses more cocaine: Los Angeles or London? Is heroin a big problem in San Diego? And has Ecstasy emerged in rural America?

Environmental scientists are beginning to use an unsavory new tool — raw sewage — to paint an accurate portrait of drug abuse in communities. Like one big, citywide urinalysis, tests at municipal sewage plants in many areas of the United States and Europe, including Los Angeles County, have detected illicit drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana. (…)

By Marla Cone, June 24, 2008

Read all Los Angeles Times

Cleanest gram panchayat at the block, district, divisional and state levels would be awarded by the state government every year under the reward scheme to motivate the state panchayati raj institutions in scaling up the Total Sanitation Campaign (…)

Read all Merinews.com

Launched on 14 March 2008 by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), shortly after confirmations of contributions from donors totaling more than $50 million, the Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) is taking its first concrete steps in Nepal, Madagascar and Uganda. Scoping work is under way in the above countries, discussions with the governments of Burkina Faso, Senegal and India are in process. The final country likely to be a part of Round 1 GSF funding is Pakistan.

The call for expressions of interest from potential Executing Agencies for these countries is scheduled for September - October 2008. WSSCC’s Steering Committee will make the selection the countries for Round 2 GSF funding known in March 2009.

The GSF is a pooled fund supporting national efforts to help poor people attain sustainable access to basic sanitation. To date donor commitments have been made by The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Source: WSSCC Newsletter, June-Sept 2008

“The Nepal WASH Coalition is able to leverage media coverage and establish the ties needed to bring lasting change in the sanitation and water supply situation in Nepal. It has successfully increased coverage of sanitation issues in the media, educated communities and villages on the benefits of good hygiene practices, and has been able to convince the Government to endorse the Sanitation Model District Approach programme. The Nepal WASH Coalition also encourages sector stakeholders to come together as a group, in order to voice needs and suggest changes. As it grows in influence, the Nepal WASH Coalition brings much needed attention to a sector that is often shrouded in stigma.”

This is the conclusion of the May 2008 WASH case study on Nepal, one of a series published by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC).

AMREF has put into action the Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education (PHASE) programme in rural Kenyan communities where hygiene and sanitation conditions are often poor, resulting in the spread of dysentery, diarrhoea and cholera.

PHASE is also being implemented in the urban ‘slum’ settlement of Kibera, in Nairobi. Living conditions are particularly poor because the government doesn’t recognise the slum as its responsibility, and provides no basic water or sanitation, education or health services. Overcrowded conditions spread disease quickly, and children suffer poor health because of inadequate nutrition and lack of access to clean water and sanitation.  (…)

Read all ReliefWeb

Original source: African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF)

Date: 23 Jun 2008

By Lavanya Kumari, New Delhi , June 22 (ANI)

About 30 women, who were long related to scavenging jobs, had an unusual cheer of pride on their faces on Saturday here when they walked the ramp with top Indian models like Carol Gracious, Jessie Randhawa and Nethra Raghuraman.

The event Mission SanitationFashion Fiesta’08 is being jointly promoted by the United Nations NGOIRENE Network and Sulabh International Social Service Organisation for the High Level Segment of ECOSOC in observance of the International Year of Sanitation’ 08.

(…) On Saturday, these women were overjoyed to receive so much admiration of one and all for their newly found talents. “We maintain a proper hygiene and are treated well by all. These people serve us tea. We are happy to be here (part of the rehabilitation program),” said Sushila Chauhan, one of the sanitation workers, who is today a part of the rehabilitation program. There are thousands of women associated with sanitation work in India and earn their livelihood by cleaning the human waste at various public convenience centers or other venues.  (…)

Read all Thaindian News

Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Abuja

As part of efforts to promote good sanitary condition and hygienic practice in the country, the Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Halima Tayo Alao has called for a positive attitudinal and behavioral change among Nigerians to enhance their health and well being.

The Minister made the remarks in a keynote address presented at the North-west zonal campaign on hand washing held in Katsina.

(…) The North- west campaign is the first in the series of the hand wash, campaign in the six geo-political zones of the country. It will be recalled that the First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua performed the national launch of the campaign last month.

Read all allafrica.com

Original news in Thisday Laos