Sustainable sanitation - ecosan Advisory Services E. Muench (2009)
More than one third of the world’s population currently lives with inadequate sanitation or none at all – a situation which is an affront to human dignity. Unhygienic living conditions threaten the lives and health of both children and adults: Every day about 4,100 children under the age of five die from diarrhoea worldwide. The majority of these deaths are caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. The lack of sanitation also has adverse im-pacts on the economy, because diseases reduce people’s productivity. In addition, pollution of groundwater, rivers, lakes and oceans damages the environment. The reasons for the poor sanitation conditions in many developing countries and emerging economies are manifold. The subject is often a taboo topic. People in positions of political responsibility are often unaware of the extent of the problem, particularly since the majority of the victims are the poorer and weaker members of society. There is also a lack of strategies, laws and policies which promote effective structures and institutions in the sanitation sector, as well as a lack of adequately trained personnel.
Bibliographic information
E. Muench (2009). Sustainable sanitation - ecosan Advisory Services Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ), Germany
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