1.8% of GDP lost to diarrhoea, typhoid: Afridi

[Naveed Yaseen]

Pakistan is paying a heavy price of neglecting the water and sanitation sector, as diarrhoea and typhoid has cost the national exchequer 1.8 per cent of the GDP, which is Rs120 billion annually.

Federal Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi expressed this while inaugurating the two-day Pakistan Conference on Sanitation (PACOSAN) here Thursday, organised by the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with Water & Sanitation Programme, Unicef, Rural Support Programme Network (RSPN), Water Aid, USAID and UN Habitat.

The purpose of the event is to create awareness and sensitisation for mainstreaming sanitation across sectors, ministries/departments, institutions and socio-political persuasions, so that the issue gets prioritised in their respective programmes and policies.

The federal minister said that Pakistan’s progress in achieving sanitation coverage is in danger of being undermined by a number of factors. “Half of our latrines may not be hygienic or worse and a large proportion of human waste is discharged into the environment. Our systems for wastewater disposal and solid waste management are inadequate, acting as transfer systems rather than treatment systems. Only 50 per cent of the urban solid waste is collected and only a fraction of that is disposed of in a hygienic manner. Similarly, only 50 per cent of wastewater is collected and less than 10 per cent is effectively treated,” said the minister.

Showing trust on Unicef-WHO joint programme to monitor and evaluate progress, the minister asked the partners to set a target of 100 per cent sanitation coverage by 2015.

Pakistan’s National Sanitation Policy signals an important shift from supply side projects to a demand driven movement, the minister said apprised that the Balochistan sanitation strategy has been approved and the other provincial governments must set a timeframe for the approval of their respective sanitation strategy. He said Ministry of Environment intends to develop a National Sanitation Action Plan inline with our commitments under the Delhi Declaration, arising from SACOSAN-III. “This action plan would guide us in the implementation of the Delhi Declaration and the monitoring of progress in the lead up to SACOSAN-IV in Sri Lanka in 2010,” he said.

Deputy Representative Unicef Pakistan Luc Chavin said sanitation also enhances dignity, privacy and safety, especially for women and girls.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=180148