Maravi

UNICEF urges forthright strategies on sanitation

UNICEF urges forthright strategies on sanitation
By Mwala Kalaluka
Tuesday May 20, 2008 [04:00]

THE United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has noted that people’s lack of forthrightness in discussing sanitation is a major stumbling block in the campaign to increase the global population’s access to improved sanitation. And the government has challenged media managers to accord sanitation issues equal amount of coverage as they do political stories.

During a media awareness workshop on sanitation and hygiene organised by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing and the civil society organisations at Lusaka’s Hotel Intercontinental yesterday, chief of UNICEF’s WASHE section, Peter Harvey, said it was saddening that sanitation was generally considered to be an embarrassing topic of discussion.

He said the status quo was vexing because it was from lack of access to proper sanitary facilities that diarrhoea had gained the status of being the second largest cause of mortality globally.
Harvey urged people to look at sanitation issues from an economic point of view rather than a public health issue.

“Sanitation is not a very sexed subject,” Harvey told the gathering. “Sanitation is always an afterthought.”

He said it was incredible that 200 years after the massive sanitation revolution on the European continent, 4.6 billion of the world’s population did not have access to water and sanitation.

“Sanitation is still something which people tend not to talk about even though it is something that we all come across everyday,” he said.

Harvey noted that whilst the issue of sanitation seemed to be a big challenge, it was very easy to address within a conducive political environment and removal of the social stigma that had been attached to the issue.

“Zambia is making progress but it is not satisfactory,” he said. “We need to have a stronger government leadership.”

He also said the gap between the poor and the rich had an influence on the way the lack of sanitation should be tackled, especially that rich people tended to have more access to sanitation facilities than the poor.

“It is therefore important that sanitation strategies are targeted to those who really need the support,” said Harvey.

Meanwhile, UNICEF country representative Lotta Sylwander said about US $11 billion would be required to address the current global challenges hindering the scale out of improved sanitation facilities under the framework of the Millennium Development Goals on sanitation and water.

She said however, that even if this goal was achieved by 2015, about 1.8 billion people would still lack access to improved sanitation.
Sylwander said that about US $60 billion would be gained economically if this was done.

And local government and housing minister Sylvia Masebo challenged the media to do more in raising awareness on sanitation issues, especially on the use of the toilet.

Labels: LOTTA SYLWANDER, SYLVIA MASEBO, UNICEF

posted by MrK @ 3:53 AM