prasad1
Active member
A staggering 2.4 billion, or one-third of the world’s population will continue to remain without improved sanitation in 2015, says a recent World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund report.
Instructive for India is a study undertaken for the Water and Sanitation Program and the World Bank. It estimates the cost of inadequate sanitation for the country’s economy at $53.8 billion a year, a figure equivalent to 6.4 per cent of GDP. Among the so-called BRICS countries, India fares by far the worst, with some 627 million resorting to open defecation. The statistics elsewhere are strikingly small; 14 million in China and half that number in Brazil. The importance of proper sanitation to disaster preparedness can hardly be overstated, given the susceptibility of affected populations to waterborne diseases. Clearly, universal coverage must remain the core objective, at least at the level of basic offering of sanitation services and market-based alternatives as a supplement. This may prove a sustainable combination to rid the globe of the ruinous consequences of insanitary conditions.
The_Hindu
Instructive for India is a study undertaken for the Water and Sanitation Program and the World Bank. It estimates the cost of inadequate sanitation for the country’s economy at $53.8 billion a year, a figure equivalent to 6.4 per cent of GDP. Among the so-called BRICS countries, India fares by far the worst, with some 627 million resorting to open defecation. The statistics elsewhere are strikingly small; 14 million in China and half that number in Brazil. The importance of proper sanitation to disaster preparedness can hardly be overstated, given the susceptibility of affected populations to waterborne diseases. Clearly, universal coverage must remain the core objective, at least at the level of basic offering of sanitation services and market-based alternatives as a supplement. This may prove a sustainable combination to rid the globe of the ruinous consequences of insanitary conditions.
The_Hindu
