Thursday, December 30, 2010

AMCOW AFRICASAN AWARDS 2010 : Recognizing sanitation and hygiene achievements in Africa

Publication date : 06 October 2010

Thematic : Water Ressource Management

Geographic area : * Africa

By Kabou Kambou Kadio (kadio.kabou@reseaucrepa.org) - CREPA

The African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) working with the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), the African Development Bank (ADB), the World Health Organisation (WHO), and UNICEF is pleased to announce the second round of the AMCOW AfricaSan Awards.

What are the AMCOW AfricaSan Awards?


The AMCOW AfricaSan Awards are dedicated to recognizing outstanding efforts and achievements in sanitation and hygiene in Africa which result in large-scale, sustainable behaviour changes and tangible impacts.
They aim at raising the profile of sanitation and hygiene by drawing attention to successful approaches, promoting excellence in leadership, innovation and sanitation and hygiene improvements in Africa, and providing incentives for action beyond 2008 - the International Year of Sanitation.



The awards cover four sub-regions in Africa: Eastern Africa, Western and Northern Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa. They are open to all individuals and institutions working in the sanitation and hygiene sector from countries of each award region. These include regulatory and oversight bodies, ministries, local governments, civil society and training/research institutions, the private sector, the media and schools.



The awards seek to honour institutions and individuals:
- whose contributions to national policy have had significant impact on large-scale improvements in sanitation and hygiene
- who are involved in service provision whose exemplary service has contributed to improved sanitation and hygiene
- who inspire action and foster the achievements of others; or, through innovation/good practice, influence sanitation and hygiene improvements in their communities
- Whose direct involvement or significant support of sanitation and hygiene initiatives has led to significant, large-scale improvements.
- Whose commitment and outstanding contributions to improving the state of sanitation and hygiene initiatives has led to significant improvements at the local, national or regional level.



The first round of the awards was held at the Gallagher Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa on the 12th of November 2009 during the Second Africa Water Week.
Winners emerged and were honoured for achievements and outstanding contributions to uplifting the profile of sanitation in different fields.
In this second round the following categories of the awards will be considered:



• PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD:
To honour public institutions or individuals whose contributions to national policy have had significant impact on large-scale improvements in sanitation and hygiene.
Nominees may include public officials at all levels; or Ministries, State Corporations and government departments with policy or oversight role in the hygiene and sanitation subsectors.



• DISTINGUISHED WOMAN LEADER IN SANITATION AND HYGIENE:
To honour women for their commitment and outstanding contributions to improving the state of sanitation and hygiene.



• Grassroots Champion Award:
To honor individuals for their commitment and outstanding contributions to improving the state of sanitation and hygiene at the local, national or regional level;
or who have significantly influenced the thinking and behavior of others.
Nominees may include opinion leaders, activists, local officials, elders, and grassroots organizers.



Nomination guidelines


You may nominate yourself or another individual or institution. Entries may be made by individuals or organizations based within or outside Africa.


Nominations should include the name and contact details of the nominee, and a short statement (no more than 500 words) about their work and why they deserve the award.



The nominees must be involved in sanitation and hygiene-related activities within Africa.



Nomination forms are available at www.amcow.net



Nominations should be sent to africasanawards@amcow.net



Submissions may be in English or French and should be received by the 15th of October, 2010.

For more information please visit www.amcow.net or call Thompson Abu (Mobile +234-803-311-9493;
Tel. +234-9-7800440) or email thompson@amcow.net

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Friday, December 24, 2010

Kenya: Kisii town to benefit from water and sanitation programme

Posted on December 16, 2010 by westerhof| Leave a comment

A Stakeholders Workshop held in Kisii Town last month endorsed a roadmap to design and implement a major water and sanitation development programme for the town, which will build on investments already completed under the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative.

UN-HABITAT will provide pre-investment capacity building under the Initiative and the Global Water Operators Partnership Alliance to design the Progamme and strengthen the institutional capacity of the local service provider to enable the Government of Kenya to access funding from interested development partners, including the German Development Bank (KfW) and the private sector.

Kisii is an important urban and commercial centre in south-western Kenya and its development has long been constrained by a lack of effective urban planning and poor infrastructure. UN-HABITAT, through the Initiative has assisted in providing a strategic urban plan for the town and in expanding access to water, sanitation and solid waste management services.

These interventions have been complemented by training and capacity building for the Gusii Water Company as well as a number of pre-investment studies to lay the groundwork for a long term water and sanitation development programme. The work carried out under LVWATSAN has attracted the interest of potential development partners, including KfW and USAID.

The Stakeholders Workshop was attended by over 50 participants drawn from the Government of Kenya, the local authorities, the Gusii Water Company, UN-HABITAT and its Consultants, the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, representing the community-based organizations and the media.

In his remarks to officially open the workshop, the Representative of the Regional Commissioner Mrs. Lydia Muriuki noted that while service delivery in the town had improved with support provided under the Initiative, there is now a need to develop a consensus among the stakeholders on the main elements of a long term water and sanitation strategy for the town, including an agreed action plan and time frame.

The workshop benefited from a number of presentations from UN-HABITAT staff and consultants which highlighted the investment gaps in water and sanitation in the town, the results of studies carried out and the areas of possible assistance.

In endorsing a way forward, the Stakeholders agreed that there was a need to consolidate the various studies and proposals into a comprehensive Business and Investment Plan for water and sanitation development, which should address key constraints, including the expansion of the network to extend service to the entire town and the peri-urban areas, construction of a mini-hydro scheme, development of groundwater resources and further capacity enhancement for the service provider. UN-HABITAT was requested to provide assistance to prepare the updated Business and Investment Plan, which will then be submitted to KfW and other interested donors with priority being given to the construction of the mini-hydro project to reduce energy costs and maximize the utilization of clean energy.

Source: UN-HABITAT, 14 December 2010

Ghana: first National Environmental Sanitation Conference takes place in Kumasi

Posted on December 21, 2010 by dietvorst| Leave a comment

The government should set up a revolving fund for Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) initiatives, in collaboration with Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) and local government. This was one of the recommendations from Ghana’s first National Environmental Sanitation Conference (NESCON).

The conference was held in Kumasi from 8-10 December in Kumasi, Ashanti Region. The theme was “building partnerships for scaling up improved environmental sanitation services”, covering both solid waste management and household sanitation.

The conference presented, among others, highlights of the Environmental Sanitation Policy (Revised 2010), the National Environmental Sanitation Strategy and Action Plan (NESSAP) and the Strategic Environmental Sanitation Investment Plan (SESIP) and District Environmental Sanitation Strategy and Action Plans (DESSAPs).

NESCON 2010 was organised by the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) in partnership with Development Partners (DPs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Private Operators and others.

Read the concluding statement and recommendations and all presentations.

Source: Abu Wambei, RCN Ghana, 18 Dec 2010

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Global environmental health: Research gaps and barriers....

In fight against cholera, a dire need for soap

By William Booth
Tuesday, November 16, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - The difference between life and death in Haiti is now an ordinary bar of soap.
This Story

Soap could slow the terrifying cholera outbreak that is quickly spreading and has just in the past week entered the ravaged capital, according to health-care specialists and international aid groups.

But in the squalid slums of Port-au-Prince and the river towns where the cholera outbreak began three weeks ago, many Haitians held up their hands and shook their heads, saying they had no soap to stop an infection that is spread by contaminated food and water and in which vigorous hand-washing, especially after using the toilet, is the No. 1 way to save lives.

A cake of yellow Haitian soap costs about 50 cents. But many Haitians do not have soap because they cannot afford it. More than half the population lives on less than $1.25 a day.

"They buy food instead," said Gaelle Fohr, a coordinator of hygiene programs in Haiti for the U.N. Children's Fund.

"We borrow, we buy, but right now, we don't have any soap in the house, I am sorry to say," said Joceline Jeune, living with three children in a hillside shanty at the edge of a displaced-persons camp, as a gutter filled with greasy, gray water flowed inches from her front door.

When confronted by dubious toilets or fly-specked markets, people here daily use the expression "Mikwob pa touye ayisyen," which translates to "Germs don't kill Haitians."

"As hard as it is to believe, Haiti still needs soap. They have many needs, but soap - and access to clean water - is absolutely essential to fight cholera," Nigel Fisher, the top U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, said in an interview.

There are plans for more water trucks, and more chlorine in water tanks, wells and distribution points. But building a modern water and sanitation system will take years. By contrast, experts say, soap is fast and doable, allowing people to clean their hands.

Foreign governments, international aid groups and individuals have sent more than $3.4 billion in humanitarian aid here in the 10 months since a tremendous 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the capital, killing about 300,000 people and displacing more than 1.5 million, according to the Haitian government. But poverty is so deep, needs can seem bottomless.

"Haiti has crowded slums, poor hygiene, incredible poverty - before and after the earthquake. This is an extremely contagious, extremely virulent strain. It can kill in a few hours - unless you get help. We have well over a million people in camps; we have a disease that spreads by hand, mouth, touch, water. It can lie dormant for five days. You cannot tell who is infected," Fisher said. "The country is now facing a tremendous challenge with limited resources."
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Experts at the Pan American Health Organization forecast that 200,000 Haitians will show signs of the disease, while it is possible that a million will be infected but remain asymptomatic carriers still capable of spreading the potentially deadly bacteria.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Ellen Raises Concern Over Water, Sanitation Issues

On the eve of her address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, September 24, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Wednesday, September 22, participated in a number of side events of the General Assembly, drawing attention to issues of water, sanitation and hygiene and inclusive growth and employment in Africa. Serving as a panelist for the discussion on the “Global Water and Sanitation Challenge: The Key to the MDGs,” the President expressed concern that despite the critical role water, sanitation and hygiene play in enhancing progress on all the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the sector is under-discussed, under-prioritized and under-resourced.

The President said current access to water and especially to sanitation in Africa is cause for concern. Only 26 of 54 African countries, she observed, are on track to meet the MDG for drinking water, and only six are on track to meet the Goal of sanitation. In
sub-Saharan Africa, the President pointed out, more than 80 percent of countries are off-track for the sanitation target.

The President indicated, however, that despite huge challenges in coordination, investment and financial capacity, Africa has made the political commitment to drive the sector forward. The Liberian leader also highlighted the progress Liberia has made in addressing the issue since she became President in 2006, while acknowledging that the country still has a long way to go. The country's Poverty Reduction Strategy, she noted, emphasizes water and sanitation. Liberia, the President recalled, has approved an Integrated Water Resource Management Policy. “Our Water Supply and Sanitation Policy approves the formation of a number of key institutions,” the Liberian President explained.

The President then urged all governments and institutions to take water, sanitation and hygiene seriously. “If we fail to address the causes of disease, such as lack of access to basic sanitation and safe drinking water, the rates of return on our investment in health will diminish, and we will continue to see our children die of easily preventable diseases,” she warned. The Liberian President, who is also Goodwill Ambassador for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Africa, said the continent remains committed to the achievement of this Goal.

The panel was also addressed by President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan; Senegal's Foreign Minister, representing President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal; former Prime Minister Han Seung-soo of the Republic of Korea; as well as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The officials pledged their institutions' commitment to prioritizing the global water and sanitation challenges.

Meanwhile, President Johnson Sirleaf has acknowledged that the most difficult challenge facing her Government is the implementation of the investments the country has attracted over the years. “How the big investments touch the lives of the ordinary man or woman, is the challenge, and we will continue to find effective responses,” the President told a gathering at another UN side event, organized to discuss inclusive growth in Africa and how it is impacting the lives of the people.

The notion of 'inclusive growth,” the President insisted, is not just an abstract concept; it must become a reality in order for a secure future to take hold.” The event, co-hosted by the Governments of Liberia, Tanzania and Denmark, was also attended by Prime Minister M.K. Peter Pinda of Tanzania and Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen of Denmark, who spoke of his country's support toward Africa's efforts to address the needs of its people. The Danish Premier indicated that by 2014, his country would have doubled its support to private sector development in Africa.

Growth and employment “is a key priority in our new strategy for development cooperation,” he stressed, adding, “we do this because now is the right time. Africa's potential has never been greater, and African countries are taking the lead. We, the development partners, must do our part,” he urged.

The Liberian leader has also been participating in other events. She was present in the General Assembly Hall when President Barack Obama addressed the MDG Summit. She also attended a reception for Heads of State, hosted by the Clinton Global Foundation, where she served as a panelist on Tuesday, September 21 on the “Empowering Girls and Women”.

The President will, among other events, participate in a panel discussion on Thursday, September 23, upon the invitation of the Presidents of Finland and Lithuania on behalf of the Women World Leaders. The panel will discuss “Women as a Critical Force in Democratic Governance”. Thursday's events also include a bilateral meeting between the Liberian President and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

source:http://www.theinquirer.com (viewed on 3rd Nov, 2010 4pm)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right

Posted on July 28, 2010 by dietvorst| 1 Comment

After more than 15 years of contentious debate on the issue, the United Nations General Assembly has passed a historical resolution (64/L.63/Rev.1) declaring “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights”.

In the non-binding text, the 192-member Assembly also called on UN Member States and international organizations to offer funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all. This clause appeared to put the onus of rectifying the situation on rich countries, a Reuters report suggested.

Bolivian initiative

The resolution, which was submitted by Bolivia and co-sponsored by 35 other developing countries, passed overwhelmingly with 124 states voting in favour and 42 abstaining. No countries voted against the resolution. According to the Earth Times, “the decision has no legal standing, but inclusion in the UN’s declaration on human rights is seen as an important political step for the issue”.

Ambassador Pablo Solon of Bolivia, representing a country that spearheaded the resolution, said human rights were not born as fully developed concepts, but are built on reality and experience.

The human rights to education and work, included in the UDHR [Universal Declaration of Human Rights], evolved over time with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

“The same will occur with the human right to water and sanitation,” he predicted in a statement to the General Assembly Wednesday.

Abstainers

The abstainers to the vote on the resolution were mainly developed countries, although European Union members Belgium, Germany and Spain voted for the measure, as did China, Russia and Brazil.

Developed countries that abstained included the United States, the UK, Australia, Austria, Canada, Greece, Sweden, Japan, Israel, South Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Ireland. Anil Naidoo of the Council of Canadians accused the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board (UNSGAB) of having sent a “very damaging letter to the President of the General Assembly, in an obvious attempt to derail the resolution”.

Several developing nations, mostly from Africa, also abstained on the vote, siding with rich industrial countries. These included Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Zambia, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago.

According to The Lancet:

Some delegates felt the decision to hold the vote was pre-emptive, and all countries could have reached consensus—and thereby avoided the need for a vote—if more time was allowed to interpret legal outcomes of the move for public and private suppliers. Most delegates who abstained, and some who endorsed the resolution, were anticipating a report to be published later this year by an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). The Brazilian delegate, who voted yes, decried the absence of an “appropriate forum” to debate the resolution, and the UK’s delegate, who abstained, said that the resolution was not proposed “with consensus in mind”. Nevertheless, the justifications given by the 41 countries that abstained, including the USA, Japan, and Canada, were not convincing.

Commenting on the USA’ s abstention, Pacific Institute’s Co-founder and President Peter Gleick wrote:

The United States, which has typically been a world leader on protecting and enhancing political human rights, has always had a flawed position on “economic and social” human rights, including the human right to water – a position characterized by bad logic and a narrow and inconsistent interpretation of human rights law.

[...]

This latest declaration is not the end of the debate. There is still an ongoing discussion about the nature of the human right to water underway at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. But the endless bureaucratic shuffling of this topic from one council to another; from one committee to another; must stop. After nearly two decades of debate, these games should be seen for what they are: delaying tactics rather than clarifying activities. And the U.S. must get its UN representatives to actually read, and interpret, economic and social rights laws in a way that permits such an obvious human right to be clearly acknowledged, indeed, even embraced, as a tool to help address gross and inexcusable failures to meet basic needs for safe water and sanitation around the world.

Victory for Water Justice Movement

The Council of Canadians called the resolution “a major victory” for the “global water justice movement”.

“This resolution has the overwhelming support of a strong majority of countries, despite a handful of powerful opponents. It must now be followed-up with a renewed push for water justice,” says Anil Naidoo, Blue Planet Project organizer. “We are calling for actions on the ground in communities around the world to ensure that the rights to water and sanitation are implemented.

Banner on the web site of Food and Watch, US-based advocacy group campaigning for the right to water

Water activist and national chair of the Council of Canadians Maude Barlow (pictured above) wrote:

This vote marked a historic landmark in the fight for water justice in several ways. Countries representing 5.4 billion people – the vast majority of the population on Earth – voted in favour of the human right to water and sanitation. The language of the resolution itself set the gold standard for all future deliberations on the right to water. While a resolution is not binding, it does nevertheless demonstrate the intent of the General Assembly, and when the time comes for a more binding declaration or convention, the clear and unequivocal wording of this resolution will serve as the template.

Finally, it was important because there was a clear split in the powerful countries of the global North. Many broke with the naysayers and voted for the resolution, including Germany, Spain and France. Most emerging powerhouse countries, including China, India, Russia and Brazil, also voted in favour. This demonstrates a global shift in influence away from the once-dominant Anglo powers and their model of development.

Washington-based advocacy group Food & Water Watch, also backed what it called a landmark resolution.

“It’s time to reach consensus that the world’s poor deserve recognition of this human right without further delay or equivocation,” it said in a statement that accused the United States of “obstructing recognition of the human right to water.”
UN Independent Expert

The resolution also welcomed the UN Human Rights Council’s request that Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, report annually to the General Assembly as well. The abstainers to the vote on the resolution accused its sponsors of seeking to preempt the findings of Ms De Albuquerque. By rushing the current resolution through before a consensus could be reached, the US delegate John F. Sammis felt the work of Ms De Albuquerque could be even be undermined. The UN Independent Expert is due to report to the Human Rights Council on her work in October 2011.

Germany’s UN Ambassador Peter Wittig disagreed with those member states that voiced concern about the impact of the resolution on the Geneva process led by de Albuquerque.

“We see the resolution as a complement to the ongoing process on water and sanitation in Geneva,” he noted.

However, Wittig and others would preferred language with “a clearer message on the primary responsibility of states to ensure the realization of human rights for all those living under their jurisdiction.”

British delegate Nicola Freedman said London “does not believe that there exists at present sufficient legal basis under international law to either declare or recognize water or sanitation as free-standing human rights.”

In her own press statement, Ms De Albuquerque welcomed the landmark resolution as a “breakthrough for the United Nations General Assembly” and “a positive signal from the international community”. She underlined that:

“the fact that the right to water and sanitation was recognized, demonstrates that the General Assembly, instead of creating a new right rather formally acknowledged its existence. Hence the existing human rights framework, in particular the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, fully applies in this context.”

Criticism

Sahana Singh, editor of Asian Water, argued that “no more time should be wasted on drafting new laws and resolutions”, especially in developing countries, where implementation of laws is already such a big problem. Unless clearly specified upfront, the right to water could be taken to mean that water should be free or nearly free, she said.

“It has led to a situation where millions of litres of water are lost daily due to leakages from pipe networks. Would such a situation be allowed to exist with oil pipelines?” she asked.

The point to note is that the governmental authorities of Singapore, Manila, Phnom Penh and others, which understand the benefits of providing water and sanitation to all their citizens, are working hard to do so even without water being declared a human right.

On the other hand, the irresponsible governments which have done little for existing rights, such as the right to equality or the right against exploitation, are certainly not going to implement any more new rights, she warned

What is needed, according to Singh, are utilities that are properly management, have financial autonomy, and are allowed to charge appropriate tariffs so that they can invest in better services.

The harshest criticism of the resolution came from the head of legal affairs at the Danish think-tank CEPOS Jacob Mchangama. Not surprising as Mchangama fiercely opposes all social rights, which he claims are driven by a leftist ideological bias that is undermining classic civil and political rights (freedom rights). In his opinion piece he writes:

declaring water and sanitation as human rights constitutes a threat to both international law and the poor themselves. [...]. The right to clean water and sanitation [...] depends on economic development, technology and infrastructure. Above all, if people have a right to water and sanitation, other people must provide it – in practice, governments using public money. [...] So this is really a call for state intervention, at the expense of other priorities and freedoms – and water is no more a practically enforceable human right than other essential commodities, such as food, clothing or shelter.

Mchangama suspects the resolution is inspired by activists’ ideological resistance to the privatisation of water. He also is unimpressed by Bolivia’s motives as proposer of the resolution:

By demanding that developed countries “provide financial resources and technology transfer” to developing countries, the resolution implies that the rich are violating the human rights of people without water in poor countries. This allows many countries, such as the proposer, Bolivia, to deflect criticism away from their own real rights violations – arbitrary detentions, corruption, censorship – while portraying themselves as victims of the West.

Reactions from China and the Arab world

Writing for state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua, Ding Yi reacts to the abstention of many developed countries to the UN resolution by highlighting the different perspectives on human rights between developed and developing countries:

Different countries and people may have contrary understandings about “human rights,” but in the eyes of some Western countries those rights seem to involve equality only in social and political spheres. [...] [However] if one’s survival and development rights can’t be guaranteed, how can people talk about one’s social and political rights? [...] Perhaps those living in the developed world can’t understand the suffering of those struggling against death in the developing countries. [...] As the developed nations pour vast amounts of money into political campaigns and the promotion of their own human rights, what if they also provide more to help promote the survival rights of the people in underdeveloped countries?

A commentator for Arab News, Iman Kurdi asks if the resolution is really going to make a difference:

For a start, the resolution is nonbinding but even if it was binding, you only need to look at Israel’s flagrant disregard for UN resolutions to see how toothless they have become. A UN resolution is rather long way from a treaty on access to clean water and sanitation, though it is a valiant step in the right direction.

Kurdi also writes that:

[W]e should not be surprised that some rich countries preferred to abstain, given they are likely to be the ones footing the bill [and] that countries that are rich in water may also prefer to protect the right to sell that water and to see it as an economic and commercial resource.

[...]

At the end of the day, thinking of access to clean water and sanitation in terms of a fundamental human right is an important step in changing mindsets. It moves the issue from being an aid issue to being a right. But ultimately it is putting in the resources and the programs necessary to make that right a reality that matters.

Positive reactions from WaterAid and Amnesty

WaterAid also welcomed the UN recognition of right to water and sanitation.

Kate Norgrove, Head of Campaigns at WaterAid said: “It is good news that the resolution, recognising water and sanitation as a basic human right, has been passed by a majority vote. It is particularly encouraging to see the crucial reference to sanitation, due to its historic neglect and importance for human development.”

“It is however regretful that the vote wasn’t passed by consensus, which exposes a distinct lack of political will on this issue. Abstentions illustrate the continuing lack of priority given to sanitation – which is astonishing given that slow progress on sanitation is holding back progress on many of the other Millennium Development Goals.”

Amnesty International’s specialist on the right to water, Ashfaq Khalfan, said:

“After this promising first step, all states must now take the opportunity to protect the life and health of millions and unreservedly support the rights to water and sanitation”.

The rights will next be debated by the Human Rights Council in Geneva in September 2010.

Read the official UN General Assembly press release (GA/10967) on the resolution.

Sources: UN News Center, 28 Jul 2010 ; Patrick Worsnip, Reuters, 28 Jul 2010 ; Council of Canadians, 28 Jul 2010 ; Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch, 28 Jul 2010 ; Food & Water Watch, 28 Jul 2010 ; WaterAid, 28 Jul 2010 ; Right-to-water discussion list, 28 Jul 2010 ; Thalif Deen, IPS, 28 Jul 2010 ; AFP / The Independent, 28 Jul 2010 ; OHCHR, 30 Jul 2010 ; Amnesty International, 29 Jul 2010 ; The Lancet, 7 Aug 2010, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61203-2 ; Maude Barlow, Globe and Mail, 05 Aug 2010 ; Jacob Mchangama, Globe and Mail, 05 Aug 2010 ; Ding Yi, Xinhua, 29 Jul 2010 ; Iman Kurdi, Arab News, 02 Aug 2010 ; Peter Gleick, Huffington Post, 04 Aug 2010

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This entry was posted in Policies & legislation, Sanitation, Water supply and tagged right to water, right to sanitation, United Nations. Bookmark the permalink.
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One Response to General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right

1.
Michael Hughes | August 30, 2010 at 11:09 pm | Reply

We, at Water for Humans, could not agree more with the United Nations General Assembly in approving this historical resolution. As the U.N. put it so aptly, “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights”.

We are working to alleviate the desperate water sanitation conditions facing the people of the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. Scores of impoverished and under-served citizens in Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla in the Oaxaca Valley are victims of raw sewage flowing from the defunct waste-water treatment plan there. Water for Humans is working closely with water experts, government leaders, and NGOs to bring about sustainable, clean-water solutions to the people of Oaxaca.

But as the U.N. General Assembly appropriately points out, UN Member States and international organizations must play a significant role in solving the worldwide water sanitation crisis. Offering funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation is one sensible way to bring this about.

All countries should sign onto this resolution as this plague affects all of us! Developed nations have no excuse in not signing this important U.N. resolution. It is irresponsible not to!

Now we need to work collaboratively and help the more than 1 out of 8 people in the world, or nearly 1 billion people, who lack access to clean, safe drinking water.

UN Human Rights Council affirms that right to water and sanitation is legally binding

UN Human Rights Council affirms that right to water and sanitation is legally binding
Posted on October 6, 2010 by dietvorst| Leave a comment

The UN Human Rights Council has finally recognised the right to water and sanitation as legally binding in international law, in a landmark decision adopted on 30 September 2010.

[T]he UN affirmed [...] by consensus that the right to water and sanitation is derived from the right to an adequate standard of living, which is contained in several international human rights treaties. While experts working with the UN human rights system have long acknowledged this, it was the first time that the Human Rights Council has declared itself on the issue.

According to the UN Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, “this means that for the UN, the right to water and sanitation, is contained in existing human rights treaties and is therefore legally binding”. She added that “this landmark decision has the potential to change the lives of the billions of human beings who still lack access to water and sanitation.”

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Posted in Policies & legislation, Sanitation, Water supply

Tagged right to water, human rights, right to sanitation, WaterAid, United Nations, Catarina de Albuquerque, Human Rights Council, Freshwater Action Network, S1007-International

Mapping a Healthier Future: How Spatial Analysis Can Guide Pro-Poor Water and Sanitation Planning in Uganda

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Uganda Ministry of Health, Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, International Livestock Research Institute, World Resources Institute
October, 2009
Tags: equity mapping poverty uganda water

This report presents maps and analyses designed to inform the policies surrounding poverty reduction efforts in Uganda and to help reach the 2015 national targets on safe drinking water and improved sanitation.
Inquiries

* Florence Landsberg, GIS Associateflandsberg@wri.org+1 (202) 729-7693

Downloads

Full Report (PDF, 52 pages, 5.1 Mb)

* Front Matter & Executive Summary (PDF, 7 pages, 289 Kb)
* Introduction (PDF, 9 pages, 576 Kb)
* Safe Drinking Water Coverage & Poverty (PDF, 12 pages, 999 Kb)
* Improved Sanitation, Hygiene, & Poverty (PDF, 14 pages, 1.5 Mb)
* Conclusions, Recommendations & References (PDF, 6 pages, 193 Kb)

High Resolution Version (PDF, 52 pages, 30.0 Mb)
This larger document lets you print the maps at the highest available resolution.

Uganda GIS Data
Charts and Maps

*
Uganda: Density of Households Without Improved Sanitation Facilities, 2002
*
Uganda: Percentage of Households Relying on Open Sources of Drinking Water, 2002

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Improving water supply, sanitation, and hygiene is central to Uganda’s successful development. Such measures would affect all Ugandans and are important to every sector of the economy, but they are particularly relevant to the poor. The availability of safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, and basic hygiene can improve health, lower mortality rates, and increase work and educational achievements. In particular, better sanitation and handwashing are among the most effective means to reduce morbidity and mortality from diarrheal diseases, which disproportionately affect the poor.

The central role of safe water and sanitation in addressing poverty in Uganda is reflected in national policy. The national framework for poverty eradication highlights the links between water, sanitation, and poverty reduction efforts. To implement the plans and policies related to safe drinking water coverage, Uganda’s policy-makers have established ambitious targets for 2015. As a result, the government and development partners have made large investments in the water sector, and signifi cant pro-poor benefi ts have been achieved. However, much work still remains to be done in order to ensure safe drinking water access and basic sanitation across Uganda.

One of the premises of the current report is that assuring future pro-poor benefits from water and sanitation investments will require more detailed poverty information. This is where maps such as those introduced in this publication can be helpful to decision-makers. Detailed information on the location of poor communities can help decisionmakers target these vulnerable areas for investment, thereby improving health while keeping implementation costs reasonable.

One of the principal challenges in planning and implementing effective pro-poor interventions in water and sanitation is coordinating multiple actors across many sectors and using many different data sets. This report offers new tools to meet this challenge. Examining subcounties in Uganda that have fallen behind in reaching 2015 targets, the report illustrates how integrating various spatial and demographic data on poverty, water, and sanitation can strengthen efforts to promote health. Stand-alone water supply interventions have less impact on health outcomes than well-coordinated interventions that improve water supply, sanitation infrastructure, and hygiene behavior simultaneously.

The unique information presented in this report is critical to achieving greater results and identifying additional pro-poor interventions to reach Uganda’s 2015 national targets. To this end, the authors identify the types of analyses available to Ugandan stakeholders, in order to encourage readers to develop their own poverty, water, and sanitation maps.
Audience and Aims

This report is intended for technical and high-level officers working both on poverty issues and in health and water departments at national and local levels.

* For decision-makers concerned with reducing poverty, the report demonstrates how comparing levels of poverty in a location with maps of access to safe drinking water, enhanced sanitation facilities, hygiene behavior, and other environmental health indicators can inform strategies to fight poverty.
* For decision-makers in the water and health sector, the publication shows how information on the location and severity of poverty can assist in setting priorities for interventions and how to integrate data sets about water supply, sanitation infrastructure, and hygiene behavior to support coordinated interventions.

Report Overview

*

Mapping a Healthier Future: How Spatial Analysis Can Guide Pro-Poor Water and Sanitation Planning in Uganda presents maps and analyses designed to inform the policies surrounding poverty reduction efforts in Uganda and to help reach the 2015 national targets on safe drinking water and improved sanitation.
*

Introduction: gives an overview of the links between water issues and poverty and sets the Ugandan policy context for pro-poor water and sanitation interventions.
*

Safe Drinking Water Coverage and Poverty: provides an overview of the national pattern of safe drinking water coverage; introduces a series of maps linking this subject to poverty rates to illustrate how poverty maps can inform future investments in safe drinking water infrastructure in order to make them more pro-poor.
*

Improved Sanitation, Hygiene, and Poverty: takes an in-depth look at policies and concerns surrounding sanitation and hygiene. Maps are included showing location-specific indicators of sanitation and hygiene coverage and poverty to help guide the discussion on resource allocation. Conclusions and Recommendations: summarizes observations from the map analyses and proposes recommendations for decision-makers regarding poverty reduction and water supply, sanitation, and hygiene in Uganda and in other developing countries.

Key Findings and Recommendations
Findings

While the maps and analyses discussed in this report are primarily illustrative in nature, they support the following conclusions:

* Poverty maps and maps of water and sanitation indicators can provide insight into the relationship between poverty, water, and sanitation;
* Maps showing water and sanitation indicators at the subcounty level can be used by planners to identify disadvantaged areas and examine equity issues;
* Combining map-based census data related to water, sanitation, and hygiene can guide more integrated campaigns to decrease the incidence of water-borne diseases; and
* The type of analysis presented in this report is most useful for identifying subcounties with similar poverty, water, and sanitation characteristics in order to guide geographic targeting.

Recommendations

Strengthening the supply of high-quality data and analytical capacity can improve future planning and prioritization of water, sanitation, and poverty reduction efforts. Priority actions for policy-makers include:

* Fill data gaps on sanitation and hygiene indicators; regularly update water, sanitation, and hygiene data; and continue supply of poverty data for small administrative areas; and
* Strengthen data integration, mapping, and analysis. Promoting the demand for such indicators and spatial analyses will require leadership from several government agencies. The following actions will help link relevant maps and analyses with specific decision-making opportunities:
* Incorporate poverty information into water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions and in regular performance reporting for the water and sanitation sector;
* Incorporate water, sanitation, and hygiene behavior information into poverty reduction efforts;
* Promote more integrated planning and implementation of water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions; and
* Incorporate poverty maps and maps of water, sanitation, and hygiene indicators into local decision-making.

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Determinants of Child Mortality and Morbidity in China

Connection Speed:

: Determinants of Child Mortality and Morbidity in China
: 6/12/2002
: 52
: English
/ : World
: Environment
Health, Nutrition and Population

: Limin Wang
| Related Material | Recommendations |Related B-SPAN Videos |


This study examines the linkages between child mortality and morbidity, and the quality of the household and community environment in rural and urban China. The data source is the 1992 China National Survey for Children which resembles the demographic and health surveys (DHS). The methodologies used for the analysis are based on models widely employed in epidemiological studies. The findings from this study both confirm evidence from studies in other countries and add new information in the area of environmental health.

The key findings include (1) use of unclean cooking fuels (wood and coal) significantly reduces the neonatal survival probability in rural areas - an outcome that is also confirmed in two other studies (India and Guatemala); (2) access to safe water or sanitation reduces child mortality risks by about 34% in rural areas; (3) higher maternal education levels reduce child mortality and female education has strong health externalities (i.e. controlling for other factors, a child living in a neighborhood with more educated mothers has about 50% lower mortality risk); (4) access to safe water/sanitation, and immunization reduce diarrhea incidence in rural areas, while access to modern sanitation facilities (flush toilets) reduces diarrhea prevalence in urban areas; (5) significant linkages between ARI incidence and use of unclean cooking fuels are found using the city level data constructed from the survey.

This study indicates that effective policy interventions for improving health outcomes often lie both within and outside the health sector. Cross-sectoral approaches can potentially produce large health benefits.

Limin Wang of the Bank s Environment Department led the study. She noted that previous studies have shown developed countries have reduced incidences of diseases, and better case management in these countries also accounts for reduced child mortality. These studies imply there is a lack of integrated approach on health interventions in the developing world. Lack of access to safe drinking water, indoor and outdoor air pollution, poor nutrition are all well known factors. Policy interventions can be helpful in this area, because they can seek to prevent rather than cure problems, and often have a strong poverty focus. Global studies by the Bank and the UN suggest 20% of global diseases are linked to the environment. Other studies have linked environmental quality with child morbidity and mortality.

Wang said her study on China s data used household survey data, which had not been used in previous studies. Province level information was reviewed, as well as more disaggregated data in rural and urban areas. Most data is from 1992 and Wang said her study used more household data than previous studies. Key variables include housing characteristics and socioeconomic indicators such as education and health. She said she conducted a comparison of China s data with India and other countries. She looked at mortality, acute respiratory infections, and diarrhea and found China had lower mortality rates, but higher rates for respiratory infections, particularly in urban areas. Mortality rates also differed sharply between urban and rural areas. Respiratory problems in urban areas and diarrhea problems in rural areas varied little between income groups.

Based on the data, Wang projected that air quality in the cities and lack of access to clean water in the countryside are the key factors for children s health. She then looked at water, sanitation and cooking fuels as health indicators to verify this projection. She noted there is a great deal of literature identifying the key determinants of child morbidity. Mortality, on the other hand, is difficult to establish because information is often lacking, multiple causes are at play, and deaths often occur in the home. Wang looked at the age of death for children and found most death occurred in the first nine months. In rural areas, her results suggest unclean cooking fuel is a key factor in rural mortality rates for babies. These results are similar to evidence from India and Guatemala. Additional results include children born in hospitals and living in better neighborhoods are more likely to survive. Access to safe drinking water is another critical variable. The mother s education also plays a role in the survival rate for children under five years of age. Results in urban areas found male children had higher mortality rates than female children, a result Wang said is inconsistent with data from other countries. Access to flush toilets is also a significant factor in mortality rates.

Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Health: Results from the Last 45 Years

: 3/30/2004
: 76
: English
/ : World
: Water Supply and Sanitation
Health, Nutrition and Population

: Mariam Claeson
Lorna Fewtrell
Rachel Beth Kaufmann


It is well known that water supply, sanitation and hygiene education can improve health, but controversies persist about the relative importance of these factors. Is water quantity more important than water quality? Is sanitation more important than water supply? Is hygiene more important than hardware? And how does the impact compare to those from other "health" implications? Lorna Fewtrell of the Centre for Research into Environment and Health conducted a review that examined evidence from intervention trials over the past 45 years. The review used a meta-analytic technique to combine data from multiple studies into summary findings for each type of intervention. She presented the findings before a group of Bank public health specialists.

Rachel Beth Kaufmann, a senior public health specialist with the Bank’s South Asia region, and Mariam Claeson, a lead public health specialist in the Bank’s Human Development network, provided introductory remarks. Claeson said it was important to understand where the successful interventions were since resources were limited. Fewtrell said diarrhea remains a highly lethal disease in the developing world, especially for children. The key preventative action is clean water and sanitation services. She discussed an early 1990s study of diarrhea in countries with different sanitation systems that has been an important to subsequent research. Fewtrell said her study focuses on interventions. She looked at water quality and quantity, hygiene and drinking water. To maximize the number of studies that she could access, Fewtrell said she used morbidity rather than mortality as her criteria. She discussed some of the intervention criteria for hygiene, sanitation and water supply. Study periods, sample size, data collection methodologies varied substantially. The standard for study design, she said, is randomized, double blind trial. She then discussed relative risk adjustments. Meta- analysis uses statistical pooling of data to provide overall summary results. Fewtrell showed the stratification for developing countries for water, sanitation and hygiene. The research looked at pre-intervention scenarios for water and sanitation. Water sources and quality, and sanitation conditions varied widely. The data quantified rural and urban situations. Quality issues also were important. She discussed some of the difference between fixed and random effects models.

Some 60 studies were used to do the research. Water quality is the most popular intervention that was studied. Where there was no result or 95% confidence intervals, it could not be used in the meta analysis Fewtrell had described earlier. Only 11 studies were used in the meta analysis. She cited some of the findings. Hand washing is more effective than hygiene education on diarrhea reduction than dysentery. Under several scenarios, diarrhea was reduced markedly, as much as 44%. There were few sanitation studies, only two were used for the meta analysis. For water supply, she showed analysis for its impact on cholera and diarrhea. Hygiene seemed to be an added activity after water and sanitation had been improved in an area. Fewtrell said whenever hygiene is added, it is an effective intervention. She said there is a need for a good quality study on sanitation. Little data on water usage existed, she noted. Household connections probably play a more important role than village connections. She also noted that household storage had an important impact on hygiene and morbidity. More data is needed on water usage. Sustainability of interventions remains a question mark.
RELATED MATERIALS

* Water, sanitation and hygiene: interventions and diarrhoea – a review (PPT)

RELATED B-SPAN EVENTS

* Water Supply and Sanitation (31)
* Health, Nutrition and Population (116)

RELATED WORLD BANK LINKS

* Education and Water: Trying Harder but Could Do Better
* Determinants of Child Morbidity and Mortality in China

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Stanford climate scientist Steve Schneider dead at 65

19 July 2010

(Updated 24 July 2010 9:42 a.m. EDT)
A scientist with a knack for communicating to the public dies Monday after a career that was both 'impressively long and all-too short.'

By Douglas Fischer

Daily Climate editor

Stanford climate scientist Stephen Schneider, one of the pre-eminent voices in the climate debate and a rare researcher who argued with wit and passion about the limits of climate science and the need for aggressive response, died Monday of an apparent heart attack while en route to London from a scientific conference in Stockholm. He was 65.

Over the course of his 40-year career, Schneider built the case that the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has dire consequences for the globe. He also studied the policy implications of human-caused global warming, publishing some 400 articles on climate change and society's response.

"Steve did for climate science what Carl Sagan did for astronomy," wrote Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory atmospheric scientist Benjamin Santer.

"The pathway he chose - to be a scientific leader, to be a leader in science communication, and to fully embrace the interdisciplinary nature of the climate change problem - was not an easy pathway," Santer added. "Yet without the courage of leaders like Stephen Schneider, the world would not be on the threshold of agreeing to radically change the way we use energy."
Responsible advocacy and popularization are not, in my view, oxymoronic - but it takes discipline to minimize trouble.
- Stephen Schneider, Mediarology

Schneider advised every U.S. president from Nixon to Obama on global warming and was involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since the beginning. But his contributions extend "far, far beyond his superb science," as Peter Gleick, president and co-founder of the Pacific Institute in California, noted.

"Schneider was perhaps the most important communicator on climate science issues to the public and to policymakers," Gleick wrote in a post on Huffington Post. "He taught us the importance of speaking up in defense of the integrity of science and the public interest."

Scientists, reporters and others from around the world reacted to the news. Here is a collection of remembrances and tributes.

To post your remembrance, or suggest the inclusion of one here, please email DailyClimate editor Douglas Fischer at dfischer [ at ] dailyclimate.org
News stories

Maine Voices: Protecting God's Creation means doing our part on climate change

July 24

The Catholic Church supports strong legislation that shows care for the Earth and its poor

PORTLAND - Partisan politics and the often polarizing effects of the media have caused many of us to forget that there is a common good: a global community for which we all must care.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Most Rev. Richard J. Malone is Roman Catholic bishop of the Portland Diocese, which includes all of Maine.

The truth is we are all part of the same web of life. And climate change, perhaps more than any other crisis facing mankind today, demands that we recognize the interdependence of all life because its impacts are not isolated in any one corner of the Earth but affect every part of the living world.

Climate change highlights the links between concern for the person and for the Earth, between natural ecology and human ecology. Climate change is not just about economic theory or political platforms, and it should not be used for partisan advantage or influenced by interest group pressures.

It is about the future of God's Creation and the one human family. It is about protecting both "the human environment" and the natural environment.

Protecting the natural environment requires prudence -- careful management and efficient use of otherwise scarce natural resources.

Until more reliable energy alternatives are developed, oil and coal must be used sparingly as they are both finite and damaging to our environment. While they produce power necessary for modern life, fossil fuels also release harmful pollutants and heat-trapping greenhouse gases that are warming our planet.

Curtailing their use through conservation and making serious investments in renewable energy sources could help slow climate change and avoid much of the predicted damage to our natural world.

Protecting the human environment requires both compassion toward those most impacted by climate change and a much greater degree of personal and collective accountability for our lifestyle choices, particularly in a wealthy country like ours.

Our disproportionate consumption of non-renewable energy resources affects our brothers and sisters around the world.

The poor of the Earth offer a special test of our solidarity. Especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are many of the world's most impoverished communities. They live in regions already feeling the effects of climate change and, tragically, are the least equipped to cope with the problem.

Staff of Catholic Relief Services -- operating in 100 of the poorest countries around the world -- report that severe flooding and prolonged droughts threaten to unravel years of relief and development efforts and contribute to conflicts over scarce resources, food, and water.

Solidarity demands, as Pope Benedict said in this year's World Day of Peace Message, "a broad global vision of the world; a responsible common effort to move beyond approaches based on selfish nationalistic interests towards a vision constantly open to the needs of all peoples."

Our call to strive for peace and to love our neighbors must be more and more linked with the need for environmental stewardship.

In my tradition, we are promoting the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor. This pledge is a commitment by Catholics to do five things with regards to climate change: to pray, learn, assess, act and advocate.

In this way, we might help protect God's Creation and advocate on behalf of people most impacted by global climate change.

As for public policies addressing climate change, the U.S. bishops have consistently called for policies that demonstrate both care for Creation and care for the poor.

The United States should lead the way by passing strong climate change legislation that reflects these priorities.

To win the support of the U.S. bishops, climate legislation must not add to the burdens of poor people in our own country and must provide substantial resources to help the poorest countries in the world adapt to a problem largely created by those of us in wealthier nations.

Our mistreatment of the natural world diminishes human dignity, threatens life -- all life -- and disregards the sacredness of Creation.

People of faith, including Catholics, must recapture ancient teachings about the reverence for Creation and about solidarity with all people.

As we work to protect and defend the life and dignity of the human person, we must increasingly recognize that this task cannot be separated from the care and defense of all of Creation.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Health Promotion

Background to Health Promotion

While development in the Water and Sanitation Sector has been ongoing since the 1960’s, health promotion was first highlighted at Alma-Ata in 1978 with a call internationally for ‘Health for All by the Year 2000’. As safe drinking water was considered a primary prerequisite for good health, the 80’s was designated the Water Decade and strenuous efforts were made to provide safe drinking water for rural communities.

In an effort to improve conventional health ‘education’, which had been purely a top-down transfer of information from experts to recipients, the Ottawa Charter (WHO, 1986) revised the concept, which was now termed Health Promotion, defined in much broader terms as:

‘the process of enabling people to exert control over the determinants of health and thereby improve their health’

The Participatory Approach

The more people-centred ‘participatory approach’ in the 1990’s attempted to involve communities in their own development. The most well known varient of the participatory approach in the Water and Sanitation Sector is known as PHAST (Participatory Health and Sanitation Transformation) and was introduced into Sub Saharan Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Ethiopia) as a regional pilot project in 1994. A number of projects were initiated and a “tool kit” of illustrations (100-200 drawings) were developed in each country for participatory activities such as ‘Nurse Tanaka’, 3 pile sorting, Story with a Gap, Blocking the Route, and un-serialised posters.
Constraints of Standard PHAST programmes

Whilst the activities in ‘Standard PHAST’ projects successfully empowered communities, (UNDP/WSP/IWSD, 1999) and increased health knowledge, the training tended to target the whole community loosely with no specific membership. Ad hoc meetings with the broad community meant that different people would attend different sessions so that there was no clear target audience. If no water and sanitation programmes followed the health promotion, expectations of assistance of the community were raised whilst nothing materialised. Lack of base line surveys, lack of identified indicators of hygiene behaviour change and ill defined target population meant that hygiene change was difficult to measure. Furthermore the process was time-consuming and with insufficient monitoring and support, extension staff did not always follow through or provide the necessary reinforcement to ensure implementation took place.

Although standard PHAST has theoretically seven steps, (Problem identification, Problem Analysis, Planning Solutions, Selecting options, Planning for new facilities and behaviour change, Planning for monitoring and evaluation, and Participatory evaluation) in actual fact there is more planning than action, and the ‘talking shops’ do not always translate into sustainable behaviour change in the home. Despite the planning, communities may not be sufficiently functional to operationalise these plans.

In 2005, an assessment of PHAST programmes in Uganda concluded that it was difficult to assess the difference between communities exposed to PHAST as against those where no health promotion programmes had taken place. Although with an estimated 4 million beneficiaries the cost of the programme (US$12 million) amounted to only 49c (US$) per beneficiary, the levels of hygiene behaviour change were marginal. PHAST areas had only a 9% higher latrine coverage after a 4 year programme and a basic hygiene habit such as covering drinking water appeared 2% higher in areas where no health promotion had taken place (World Bank-WSP, 2006). The 17 indicators that were presented showed an average difference between the intervention area and the control of 5.6% (with no p values published).
PHAST within Community Health Clubs

However the fact that Standard PHAST has largely failed to prove its cost-effectiveness to-date does not mean that the approach should be completely abandoned, as where it has been used in conjunction with Community Health Clubs there have been significant success in changing hygiene behaviour. The Consensus Approach uses the standard PHAST training but has been more successful in achieving behaviour change with most areas achieving total safe sanitation, and can demonstrate an average of 47% difference of over 15 indicators (p >0.0001). The community structure provided by a Community Health Club is the missing link, an effective mobilisation strategy that puts the final ‘T for Transformation’ in place.

Community Health Clubs ensures that participatory activities translate into action. Achievable hygiene changes are identified each week. Every session is backed up with homework for the week whilst group consensus and peer pressure encourages the compliance of members.

In addition, cost-effectiveness can be more easily measured in Community Health Clubs because:

* There is an identified membership

* There is a more structured programme of sessions

* There are pre-determined proxy indicators
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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Sanitation and water must no longer play second fiddle to other priorities

Joint press release


Countries with the greatest unmet sanitation and water needs most often receive little or no aid
WASHINGTON, D.C. 21 April 2010 – Between 1997 and 2008, aid commitments for sanitation and water fell from 8% of total development aid to 5%, lower than commitments for health, education, transport, energy and agriculture, according to the latest UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report, launched today by UN-Water and the World Health Organization (WHO).

This drop occurred despite compelling evidence that achieving the water and sanitation target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would lower health-care costs, increase school attendance and boost productivity. Despite these clear benefits for human and economic development, many countries and donors are still not allocating sufficient attention and resources to water and sanitation.

“Neglecting sanitation and drinking-water is a strike against progress. Without it, communities and countries will lose the battle against poverty and ill-health,” said Dr. Maria Neira, WHO Director of Public Health and Environment.

Improved access to sanitation and water produces economic benefits that range from US$ 3 to US$ 34 per US$ 1 invested, increasing a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by an estimated 2% to 7%.

“Unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and the lack of hygiene claim the lives of an estimated 2.2 million children under the age of 5 every year. Of these deaths, 1.5 million are due to diarrhoea, the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease,” said Dr. Neira. “The impact of diarrhoeal disease in children under 15 is greater than the combined impact of HIV and AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis,” she added.

The findings from the UN-Water GLAAS report will be presented at the first annual High Level Meeting of Sanitation and Water for All, hosted by UNICEF on 23 April in Washington, DC. The High Level Meeting provides a forum for Ministers of Finance from developing countries, accompanied by Ministers responsible for sanitation and water, and representatives from donor countries to gain a greater understanding of the linkages between water, sanitation, and economic growth, in order to commit the appropriate resources, as well as to promote a culture of mutual accountability, partnership and shared responsibility.

At this groundbreaking event, governments, donors, multilateral agencies, and civil society organizations will discuss challenges, share best practices and commit to bringing safe drinking-water and adequate sanitation to the unserved. The participants will focus on the UN-Water GLAAS recommendations: greater political prioritization for sanitation and drinking-water, better resource targeting, strengthening of systems, and development of stronger partnerships at all levels.

“This high level meeting represents a watershed in our sector. As a global partnership, Sanitation and Water for All will involve the people who make decisions about investments, and who can change the outlook for the sector. We firmly believe giving priority to sanitation and water and tracking our progress together will aid development and give new hope to countries who struggle to reach their poorest citizens, including vulnerable children, with these essential services,” said Ms. Clarissa Brocklehurst, UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

“UNICEF is delighted by the enthusiastic response we have had from invitees, and we look forward to a landmark first meeting with 35 ministers from 20 developing countries and 12 major donors,” she added.

“UN-Water is proud that the GLAAS report will help drive change in the sector, and our members are poised to support the work of development partners and members states,” said Dr. Zafar Adeel, who chairs UN-Water, a group of 27 UN organizations working on various aspects of water.

About Sanitation and Water for All
Sanitation and Water for All is a global partnership aimed at achieving universal and sustainable access to sanitation and drinking-water for all, by firmly placing sanitation and water on the global agenda with an immediate focus on achieving the MDGs in the most off-track countries.

To view report: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/glaas

Please visit:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/glaas
http://www.unicef.org/
http://www.unwater.org/activities_san4all.html

Attn Broadcasters: B-roll on Water and Sanitation issues will be available on www.thenewsmarket.com/unicef

For further information please contact:
UNICEF: Ms. Saira S Khan, UNICEF Media, New York, Tel: 1 212 326 7224, Email: sskhan@unicef.org
WHO: Ms Nada Osseiran, Communications Officer, Public Health and Environment, Geneva, Tel. +4122 7914475, Mobile +4179 445 1624, Email: osseirann@who.int;
PAHO/WHO: Donna Eberwine-Villagrán, media relations, Pan American Health Organization, Tel. 1 202 974 3122, Email: eberwind@paho.org.

UNICEF - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene - UNICEF Water and Sanitation

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Almost fifty per cent of the developing world’s population – 2.5 billion people – lack improved sanitation facilities, and over 884 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources. Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more.

Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many other serious repercussions. Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because their schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities. Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, health systems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer. Without WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), sustainable development is impossible.

UNICEF works in more than 90 countries around the world to improve water supplies and sanitation facilities in schools and communities, and to promote safe hygiene practices. We sponsor a wide range of activities and work with many partners, including families, communities, governments and like-minded organizations. In emergencies we provide urgent relief to communities and nations threatened by disrupted water supplies and disease. All UNICEF WASH programmes are designed to contribute to the Millennium Development Goal for water and sanitation: to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation.

for more info visit 'http://www.unicef.org/wash/'

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Water and adequate sanitation remain elusive dreams

Kenya

Provision of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation may remain a pipe dream to developing countries, Kenya included. Reports coinciding with the just ended Earth Summit reveal.
Zachary Ochieng

Late last month, 200 countries met in Johannesburg, South Africa for the just concluded World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). They all agreed in principle to halve the proportion of people with no access to water and proper sanitation by 2015. However, this may remain a pipe dream.

According to the UN 2002 Human Development Report, over 1 billion people had no access to safe drinking water while 2.4 billion - more than a third of the planet - lacked access to sanitation in the year 2000. But it is the poor people living in neglected and unhealthy environments of the developing world who have borne the heaviest brunt.

In Kenya, a survey jointly conducted by Strategy & Tactics, Research International East Africa (both research consultancy firms) and PriceWaterHouseCoopers, a leading management consultancy firm early this year shows that access to basic services is limited in all provinces except Nairobi. The survey, whose report titled "Kenya: State of the Nation - a report on the Baseline Survey", launched in July 2002, was conducted all over the country.

The survey's terms of reference called for the coverage of all districts in Kenya as well as a representative sample of the administrative divisions. Over 8000 interviews were conducted for the survey, with each province and district having a minimum of 500 and 100 respondents respectively. Random sampling methodology was used to select the respondents.

According to the report, only one in twenty, five per cent, respondents had a flush toilet inside their dwelling, while one in eight, 13 per cent, respondents claimed no access to any kind of sanitation. The report adds that only one in twenty respondents had access to water via a tap in their dwelling with nine per cent of respondents having a tap in their yard. A third of the respondents, 32 per cent, were getting their water from a river or dam, a worrying scenario in terms of water-borne diseases.

The report also notes that the limited access that respondents have to refuse removal services raises important health and environmental issues. Only one per cent of respondents had a local authority that removed their refuse. 35 per cent of the respondents got rid of their refuse by dumping it in the open.

The report further states that fetching water was seen as a woman's job, with 85 per cent of households identifying a female as the one responsible for this activity. Findings also showed that many households spent a larger proportion of the day looking for water. More than 22 per cent of households without a tap in their dwelling or yard spent more than two hours a day fetching water.

Yet access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are basic human rights. According to various UN charters, every individual has the right to be protected from diseases and other health hazards posed by insufficient water and poor sanitation.

In May 2002, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlement (UNCHS-HABITAT) and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) launched a campaign on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for all in Kenya's capital Nairobi. The WASH campaign is part of a global advocacy effort launched to mobilize political support and action around the world, as well as to raise public awareness on the need for sanitation, hygiene and safe water.

Available data shows that the low - income households, slums and informal settlements resort to buying water from private operators at high prices. Private water operators have mushroomed all over the place, with trucks hitherto used for exhauster services having been turned into water tankers. The vended water is often contaminated, posing a health hazard to consumers.

According to WASH, rapid urban growth in Kenya and other developing countries has outpaced the capacity of urban authorities to provide basic services. "The result is a lowering in the quality of life, reduced urban productivity, increased burden of health care and unmitigated environmental pollution".

The HABITAT/Government of Kenya's "Nairobi: A situation Analysis 2001" report paints even a gloomier picture. According to the report, an estimated 1.5million people in Nairobi - about 60 per cent of the city's official population of 2.5million - live in dingy hovels in slums and informal settlements. The report notes that households in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum and the largest one in East and Central Africa, pay up to five to twenty times for a litre of water than the average American citizen.

Kenya is one of the sixty countries that signed the Bonn Ministerial Declaration assigning high priority to water and sanitation as vital keys to sustainable development. Kenya is a signatory of the Rio de' Janeiro declaration making water, sanitation and hygiene a top priority for action on the continent that is seriously affected by lack of basic water and sanitation services. This, however, remains an elusive goal.

WSSCC chairman Sir Richard Jolly says: "Clean water alone leads only to minor health improvements. Sound hygiene behaviour must be addressed in its own right, with adequate sanitation and clean water as supporting components. While each of the three elements has some health benefits, it is their combined effort that has far greater impact".

According to WASH statistics, some 6000 children die every day from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. In October 1995, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) convened a meeting of top African water experts, who agreed that the dominant challenge for policy makers and planners for the next decade is the "equity issue of ensuring that everyone gets reasonable access and fair share of safe water".

UNEP also stresses on the need to conserve water for future generations. According to UNEP, for development to be sustainable, it must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.

VISION 21, an initiative of the WSSCC, offers a practical picture of a future in which the problem of sanitation is brought to an end. The initiative seeks a clean and healthy world - a world in which every person has safe and adequate water and sanitation, and lives in a hygienic environment.

Chapter 21 of Agenda 21 on "solid waste management and sewage related issues" offers an integrated strategy for waste management, which addresses both formal and informal sectors. It includes minimization of waste, promotion of waste recycling and reuse, increasing service coverage and ensuring environmentally sound disposal.

On a positive note, a regional organization, with its Kenya Chapter office in the western town of Homa Bay, has embarked on a project to improve sanitation. The East African Communities Organisation for the management of Lake Victoria and its resources (ECOVIC), in collaboration with CARE Kenya, has started erecting Ecological Sanitation (ECOSAN) toilets in Homa Bay district. The project is to extend to other districts along the Lake Victoria region namely Busia, Bondo, Siaya, Nyando, Migori, Rachuonyo and Suba.

ECOSAN toilets can be effectively used to collect urine and faeces for agricultural use. These toilets are a perfect alternative to the flush- and - discharge and drop- and-store sanitation systems. They work on the principle of sanitized reuse of human waste. The principle builds upon the re-circulation of nutrients rather than water.

Ottawa Citizen Examines Water, Sanitation In East Africa

Article Date: 23 Dec 2009 - 3:00 PST


A series of articles by Ottawa Citizen reporter Chris Cobb examines water and sanitation in East Africa. Cobb received a Kaiser Family Foundation Mini Fellowship for these reports. Summaries appear below.

* An Ottawa Citizen article examines Canada-based charity WaterCan's projects in East Africa. "This year, WaterCan has worked with local African partners to retro-fit more than 50 schools [in] Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania - and has just launched a major Christmas funding drive to expand their work in schools next year. In the past two years, the charity has spent more than $2 million on school and community water and sanitation projects," according to the article.

The report notes the role schools play in educating children about the health benefits of clean water. "School health clubs are on the frontlines and key in educating fellow students - and adults in their home communities - in how to give themselves a fighting chance again typhoid, cholera and other life-threatening diseases that the lack of clean water and basic sanitation facilities breed" (Cobb, 12/20).

* A story published on Canada.com looks at access to clean water in a rural Kenyan district. "People here do what everyone does with water: Drink it, cook with it, wash clothes and bodies. Those who come to these communal watering holes typically attend to their laundry and personal hygiene on site. The few who can afford fuel might boil the water before consuming it. Fewer still will be able to afford the 30-cent purifying tablet that can treat 20 litres. Those who can are at least able to shorten the odds against contracting cholera, typhoid or the bilharzia, also known as snail fever. For most, water-borne disease is a part of life," according to the article.

The story also examines how the drought in East Africa has affected water sanitation and what local and international aid agencies are doing to promote access to clean water (Cobb, 12/20).

* A second Ottawa Citizen article focuses on the efforts of water entrepreneurs in Africa. "Clean drinking water, even for those who can afford it, is at a premium. Those who can't afford it make do with dirty water. Widespread ignorance of basic personal hygiene makes bouts with disease inevitable," according to the article. He highlights the efforts of W-GOTAFOGO, a group that "buys water from the Nairobi Water Co. and sells it at five cents for a 20-litre jerry can. It rents the toilet and shower facilities for less than $1 a month. The profit funds programs for young people, including a theatre group to spread positive social messages and soccer teams that compete throughout Nairobi."

The article also includes information about a second group, called Maji Ufansi (Water Development). The "water entrepreneurs serve the needs of 180 'members' who pay for their water, sanitation and showering needs at a WaterCan-funded facility. The group ... operates three facilities. It's been six years since they have been able to admit a new member, but casual users who come calling at off-peak hours are always welcome" (Cobb, 12/20).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

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