World Toilet Summit 2007: Providing people access to sanitation

Nov 01: The biggest international event in the most neglected area, (especially in developing and underdeveloped countries) that is sanitation started on Wednesday in New Delhi, jointly organised by India’s Sulabh International Social Service Organisation and the Singapore-based World Toilet Organisation in collaboration with Government of India.

•   E-mail Article
•   Printer Friendly
•   Text-Size    

Conference is being attended by almost 170 participants from foreign countries while more than 200 people have come from different parts of India. This will include sanitation experts from 40 countries who will concentrate on finding solution to the problem of poor sanitation.

Dr. Pathak, the founder of Sulabh sanitation and social reform movement told that around 2.6 billion of the six billion people i.e. almost one third of the population of the world do not have access to safe and hygienic toilets. The summit pledged to provide toilets to at least 50% of that population by 2015.

WHO data represents that around 200 million people are infected with schistosomiasis, a result of poor access to safe and hygienic sanitation facilities.

This is not all. Almost 1.8 million children die of diarrhea every year.

Dr. Pathak also stressed on the need of new technology, which is people-friendly such as developed by the Sulabh which is two-pit pour flush toilet. It is technically appropriate, social-culturally acceptable and affordable.

The Summit was inaugurated by the former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who considered sanitation and health infrastructure as indicators of development.

He also called for the public-private partnership to tackle the problem. He said that if three ministries of health, empowerment and housing work in co-ordination this is not difficult to provide a safe and hygienic sanitation system to the country.

At the function the Sulabh Sanitation Award was also presented to the ‘Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Councile of Geneva’.

Experts from the various countries exchanged their ideas on proper technologies which can be used for providing safe sanitation system.