Hundred of thousands of people die every year worldwide due to poor quality of water and bad sanitation facilities. The problem will become darker if appropriate measures are not taken.
According to UN health officials, lives of thousands of children could be saved every year at a cost equal to what Europe spends on ice cream annually, as per the news published by TheAssociatedPress.
As per the news published by Reuters, according to Shigeru Omi, the WHO's Regional Director for the Western Pacific, around 133 Million people throughout the world suffer from high-intensity worm infections that lead to multiple health problems like cognitive impairment, anemia and dysentery. Shigeru Omi also said that around 1.8 Million people lose their lives annually due to diarrheal diseases caused due to poor sanitation and hygiene.
Majority of the deaths takes place in Asia, with 90% of them being children under five years of age. Diarrhoea is the second major cause of children's death in developing countries worldwide. Apart from these diseases, many other illnesses, like intestinal worm infections, are too linked with polluted water and poor hygiene and sanitation.
Researches have shown that better sanitation can bring down the deaths by around 32% caused by diarrhoea and extensive campaigning for hygiene, like hand washing, can curtail such deaths by nearly 45%.
In order to deal with this problem, many charities campaigns, like Seoul meeting are being conducted in Asia to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation among poor people. These campaigns are boosting the governments' initiatives to invest in public toilet facilities for poor people. Developing countries around the world are taking necessary initiatives to provide good sanitation facilities. For instance, South Korea has decided to establish a "toilet culture" for improving the toilet facilities for hosting international events.
As per to the UN, if $10 Billion are spent in basic toilet facilities every year, the proportion of people that do not have access of basic toilet facilities would be reduced to half by 2015. The UN has set a target to help at least half of the 2.6 Billion people that lack proper toilet facilities by 2015.
According to a Senior Research Analyst at RNCOS, "Poor people are facing the problem of lack of drinking water and proper sanitation facilities worldwide. People living above the poverty line are not facing the problem but in future, they may face this problem. A big percentage of cost spent on health care facilities could be saved by providing safe drinking water and basic sanitation."
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