Only 48 percent of Pak citizens have access to safe sanitation: WHO

Karachi, Apr 21(ANI): Only 48 percent of population has access to safe sanitation in Pakistan, making it one of the of 57 countries currently most off-track to meet its sanitation Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target to halve the proportion of people without access to adequate sanitation, a UN agency report has said.

A new report released by an international aid agency, WaterAid, Pakistan is due to halve the number of people lacking sanitation services by 2025, missing the MDG sanitation target by 10 years.

The report titled 'Saving Lives, comes in the wake of 70 finance and sector ministers from governments around the world, including Pakistan, attending the Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting in Washington DC, The Nation reports.

The report also said that lives of 2.5 million people around the world would be saved if everyone had access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

According to the report "there are more people in the world today without sanitation than there were in 1990", and "the poor quality of sanitation and lack of access to safe drinking water causes 1.4 million child deaths every year due to diarrhea, and these deaths are preventable".

"The 2012 HLM provides an opportunity to reinforce commitments made in 2010 and recent regional forums. "We are urging the government to honour its commitments to improving water and sanitation and to demonstrate leadership by: targeting resources to poor and marginalised people, developing robust monitoring systems to ensure the effectiveness of investments and to promote learning and innovation," Programme Manager Policy and Advocacy of WaterAid in Pakistan Abdul Hafeez said. (ANI)