WHO Develops New Guideline To Fight Poor Sanitation

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has developed a new set of guidelines that would enable countries grabbling with sanitation challenges, make a headway.

The new guidelines are anchored on four principal recommendations and is expected to help countries significantly reduce the close to 830,000 diarrhoeal deaths recorded yearly.

These deaths according to WHO are usually caused by unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene.

In a release copied to various media houses, sanitation interventions should ensure entire communities have access to toilets that safely hold excreta.

The guidelines also suggest that, a full sanitation system should undergo local health risk assessments, to protect individuals and communities from exposure to excreta―whether this be from unsafe toilets, leaking storage or inadequate treatment.

“Sanitation should be integrated into regular local government-led planning and service provision to avert the higher costs associated with retrofitting sanitation and to ensure sustainability,” the statement read.

Invest More

WHO further made a clarion call on all countries to make comprehensive investments in order to reach the goal of universal sanitation coverage by 2030.

“The health sector should invest more and play a coordinating role in sanitation planning to protect public health,” WHO advised.

For every US$ 1 invested in sanitation, WHO estimates a nearly six-fold return as measured by lower health costs, increased productivity and fewer premature deaths.

Worldwide, 2.3 billion people lack basic sanitation (with almost half forced to defecate in the open). They are among the 4.5 billion are without access to safely managed sanitation services – in other words a toilet connected to a sewer or pit or septic tank that treats human waste.

According to the Deputy Director-General for Programmes at WHO, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, “Without proper access, millions of people in the world over are deprived of the dignity, safety and convenience of a decent toilet.”

“Sanitation is a fundamental foundation of human health and development and underpins the core mission of WHO and ministries of health worldwide. WHO’s Sanitation and Health Guidelines are essential to securing health and wellbeing for everyone, everywhere,” he added.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey