Unsafe Sanitation Driver Of Enormous Public Health Costs: Experts

New Delhi: Unsafe sanitation leads to enormous public health costs and there is a need to provide universal safe, sustainable sanitation, healthcare experts said here on Thursday (September 2). Apart from high mortality rates due to the spread of diseases, poor sanitation also incurs high public health costs, they said at an online discussion organised by the National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance.

Also Read: Rotary International Has Implemented Water, Sanitation And Hygiene Facilities In Over 30,000 Schools, Here’s How

Madhu Krishna, Deputy Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-India, said providing universal safe, sustainable sanitation is like vaccination and the need for it is growing in urban areas now.

We have invested extensively in sanitation and will continue to do so. It is evident that untreated human waste has an adverse impact on our health and safe sanitation is required to prevent a host of communicable diseases. Looking at it from the gender lens, service delivery impacts women and girls more. Therefore, we need to take an inclusive approach. Ninety per cent of the frontline workers are women, yet sanitation facilities are not ensured for them, she said.

Neeraj Jain, Country Director, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), India, said there is a need to look at preventive and curative measures, where preventive is appropriate WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) practices and curative is access to health services.

Diseases spread due to bad hygiene and environment. We are a large country where scalable solutions are critical for the success of a public health programme. We are witnessing large-scale funding in healthcare and we need to align WASH under the health priorities of the country, he said.

Akhila Sivadas, Executive Director, Centre for Advocacy and Research, said that the groundswell from communities, their own compulsion, their own involvement and participation is absolutely necessary to drive the agenda of health outcomes.

Also Read: Nearly Half The World’s Population Lacked Safely Managed Sanitation In 2020: Report

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.