Sanitation for the Next Generation

Thursday 21 August
Afternoon Seminar

Convenors : World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC)

Lack of sanitation has been closely linked with the transmission of many infectious diseases including diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, infectious hepatitis, schistosomiasis, trachoma and ascariasis. Diarrhoea is the leading cause of illness and death among these diseases, killing 1.5 million people and causing approximately 4 billion cases of illness annually, mostly affecting children in developing countries.

Globally, about 60 percent of people have access to improved sanitation; this breaks down in 80 percent access in urban areas, but only 39 percent in rural areas. Although coverage appears high in urban areas, there are huge differences in access in different parts of urban conglomerates. As conventional approaches (e.g. sewerage systems) are not viable in urban slums and peri-urban areas, total coverage remains elusive. Without developing new approaches for the underprivileged urban areas, MDG targets of improving people's access to sanitation will not be achieved and the potential for maximum health benefits will remain limited.

This seminar will bring together experts and creative thinkers to describe the current sanitation situation and discuss innovative and sustainable solutions to address sanitation problems in urban slums and peri-urban areas for the next generation. It intends to lead to the development of a plan detailing specific actions by various actors to come up with the required solutions that are acceptable to the wider sanitation community.