Publication Date
Summary
A roundtable discussion was organised jointly by the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) as a side event during the 2005 World Summit that took place at the United Nations in New York from September 14 to 16. Moderated by Ms. Vanessa Tobin, Chief of Environment, Water and Sanitation of UNICEF, the roundtable featured speakers such as: H.E. Marc Ravalomenana , President of the Republic of Madagascar, Minister Maria Mutagamba, Minister of State for Water , Uganda and President of African Minister Council on Water (AMCOW), Minister Hilde F. Johnson, Minister of International Development of Norway, Mr. Kul Gautam, Deputy Director of UNICEF, representing Ms. Ann Veneman , Executive Director of UNICEF and Mr. Roberto L. Lenton, Chair of WSSCC.
The participants discussed how the lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene awareness remains one of the world’s most urgent health issues. Some 1.1 billion people worldwide still lack safe water and 2.6 billion have no basic sanitation facilities, according to the UNICEF/WHO 2005 report “Water for Life.” Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region likely to miss Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets on both safe water and basic sanitation, unless the world acts quickly to turn this around. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) no. 7 calls on countries to reduce by half the number of people worldwide who are living without these basic services.
They further discussed how unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene habits play a major role in Africa's high child mortality rate. Diarrhea is the third-biggest child killer in Africa after pneumonia and malaria, accounting for 701,000 child deaths out of 4.4 million on the continent every year. It also leaves millions of children with chronic malnutrition, the underlying cause of over half of all child mortality. The consequences are particularly severe for African women and children. Despite progress in some countries, currently only 58 per cent of Africans live within 30 minutes walk of an improved water source and only 36 percent have even a basic toilet. Minister Johnson, one of the three co-conveners of the WSSCC initiative 'Women Leaders for WASH,' claims that the problem lies with the “un-sexiness” of sanitation for governments, international organisations and donors alike. "In many parts of the world, sanitation and hygiene are ' woman's issues' and most of those in decision-making positions are men, they seem to be placing higher priority on other issues; this needs to change”, she said.
According to the discussions, education also suffers with more than half of all girls who drop out of primary school doing so for lack of separate toilets and easy access to safe water. In her statement read by her Deputy Director, Mr Kul Gautam , Ms. Veneman reiterated UNICEF’s commitment to the improvement of school sanitation. "In Uganda," said Minister Mutagamba, "we have seen a great increase in the school attendance of girls after having introduced sanitation facilities in schools." Minister Johnson concluded her speech by urging other women leaders, political or otherwise, to join in the struggle: "As women but also as leaders, it is time that we break the taboo of sanitation and that we act to deliver for the target of sanitation and water," she said.
Solutions for addressing this problem were proposed by the participants as follows:
- Make the case for sanitation and hygiene. We need to convince Heads of States and Governments, donors and finance ministers that there are substantial economic and social gains to be made by investing in sanitation and water supply for the people.
- Women need to be involved from the beginning! We have talked for so long of mainstreaming gender issues and ensure that they become a natural part of the implementation of water supply and sanitation efforts. Now it is time to act!
- Equip all schools with acceptable sanitation and hygiene facilities. Involve children as agents of change within their own communities, schools and households. Proper school sanitation and hygiene awareness will also ensure proper education for girls and boys.
Source
Emails from Eirah Gorre-Dale to The Communication Initiative on September 26 2005 and August 7 2006; and email from Carolien van der Voorden to The Communication Initiative on November 2 2006.
Placed on the Communication Initiative site December 07 2005
Last Updated February 05 2009
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