Governments around the world need to take urgent action to ensure the sanitation-related targets of the Millennium Development Goals – halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation and reducing the under five mortality rate by two-thirds – are achieved, according to a new report released to mark World Toilet Day.
Co-authored by UN agency, the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council, charity WaterAid and Unilever Domestos, the report – We Can’t Wait – says while significant progress has been made in achieving the targets, they will not be met by 2015 if it continues at the same rate.
The report says there are still 45 countries in the world where less than half of the population has access to adequate sanitation facilities while around 700,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation.
It also found that 526 million women have no choice but to go to the toilet out in the open and that women and girls living without any toilets spend 97 billion hours each year finding a place to go.
Highlighting the impact poor sanitation has on females, the report notes that “girls” lack of access to a clean, safe toilet, especially during menstruation, perpetuates risk, shame and fear”. “This has long-term impacts on women”s health, education, livelihoods and safety but it also impacts the economy, as failing to provide for the sanitation needs of women ultimately risks excluding half of the potential workforce,” it says.
But the report’s authors say the targets could still be met with “sustained partnerships between governments, businesses, NGOs and communities”. It says governments of both developing and donor countries must “significantly increase financial resources to the sector, use these resources wisely and ensure that the most marginalised and vulnerable people are targeted”.
In addition, the authors of the report say any post-2015 development framework could include a dedicated goal on water and sanitation so that by 2030, open-air defecation is eradicated, and everyone has access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene at home and at schools.
