Swachh Bharat a good example of safe sanitation services: WHO

India’s Swachh Bharat campaign is a good example of how countries can make safe sanitation services accessible to all, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday.

Under the programme, household sanitation coverage increased at a rate of 13% annually between 2016 and 2018, WHO said. “Everyone should have access to safe sanitation facilities including hygienic toilets that are connected to quality sewage systems,” WHO said, adding, for many people in its South-East Asia region access to these services remains a problem.

WHO regional director for South-East Asia Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said 900 million people region-wide lack basic sanitation and over 500 million practise open defecation. “This leads to increased human-feces contact and transmission of a range of diseases, from cholera to typhoid and hepatitis A and E to tapeworm,” she said on the eve of World Toilet Day.

In recent years, Singh said, member states have made significant progress, and region-wide urban coverage of basic sanitation is now close to 70%. In a majority of countries, rural coverage exceeds 50% and the share of the region’s population practising open defecation has been reduced from more than 50% to less than 30%, while several member states have achieved over 90% coverage of basic sanitation services. These advances are to be commended and they must also be built on. The return on every dollar invested in safe sanitation is estimated to be nearly six times increased productivity and fewer premature deaths, she said.

NEWDELHI: 900 MILLION PEOPLE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA REGION LACK BASIC SANITATION AND OVER 500 MILLION PRACTISE OPEN DEFECATION, REPORTS WHO