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| Water, hygiene related diseases |
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cost Pakistan Rs112b per year
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Muhammad Qasim
Islamabad
Federal Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi has said that around 1.5 million children under five years of age die of diarrhoea every year around the world due to inadequate and unsafe water, poor sanitation and insufficient attention to hygiene behaviours.
He stated this while addressing a workshop on National Behavioural Change Communication Strategy for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Sector organised by Ministry of Environment in collaboration with Unicef and USAID at a local hotel here Wednesday.
He said that according to estimate water, sanitation and hygiene related diseases cost Pakistan’s economy about Rs112 billion per year, over Rs300 million, a day in terms of health cost and lost earnings. Out of this the cost associated with diarrhoeal diseases alone is estimated around 55-80 billon rupees per year. Poor sanitation and hygiene practices are also proving the barrier against tackling polio, as the virus has been found to be transmitted through faeces of infected people then passed to others especially in situations of poor hygiene.
He said that lack of adequate drinking water and sanitation facilities in schools is one of the contributing factors for low enrolment and high drop out of girls from schools. Afridi said that recognising the serious impacts of lack of sanitation, the Ministry of Environment prepared the National Sanitation Policy, which provides broad guidelines and recommendations for improving the water and sanitation conditions in Pakistan. In addition, the ministry has also finalised the National Drinking Water Policy, which aims to improve the quality of life through ensuring provision of adequate and safe drinking water at an affordable cost and in an equitable, efficient and sustainable manner.
Speaking on the occasion USAID Chief of Party Janet Paz Castillo said that Pakistan has made important progress towards its repeated commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the investments and commitments the country has made to water resources and sanitation are a significant part of that progress — particularly towards Goal 4 to reduce by 2/3 the mortality rate of children under the age of 5.
She said that behaviour change is a process that requires a deep understanding of the barriers to change. Carefully planned and targeted approaches are required to move people from being unaware to understanding, then approving of and adopting behaviours that benefit themselves and the people around them and to whom they are responsible. She said that USAID is reaching nearly 30 million Pakistanis through the behaviour change communication strategy of the Pakistan Safe Drinking Water and Hygiene Promotion Project.
Speaking on the occasion, Officer-in-Charge UNICEF Pakistan Luc Chauvin said that 80 per cent of all diseases are attributable to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. The major diseases include diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis-A&E, trachoma, intestinal worms and others. He said that in Pakistan, diarrhoea is responsible for 11 per cent of under-five deaths. He said that the water and sanitation related diseases could be considerably reduced by adopting simple positive behaviours such as hand washing with soap at critical times, proper handling and storage of water, use of latrine for defecation, food protection and improving domestic hygiene. “Hand washing with soap before handling food and after defecation, for instance, could reduce the diarrhoeal related deaths among children by half and protect the health of many more,” he said.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
