Unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation cause Rs 112 billion loss annually

Inadequate water supply, poor sanitation and unhygienic conditions cost Pakistan economy about Rs 112 billion per year loss in terms of health costs and lost earning. This was stated by the Federal Secretary Ministry of Environment, Khushnood Akhtar Lashari on the eve of the Inaugural Global Hand Washing Day here on Wednesday.
"Over 80 percent of all the diseases are attributable to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene", he said. Martin Mogwanja, Unicef Pakistan representative and Dr Khalif Bile, WHO Pakistan representative, Najia Amin, Manager, Proctor and Gamble, Javed Ali Khan, DG Ministry of Environment and Faridullah Khan, MD ENERCON were also present on the occasion.
The objective of the conference was to raise awareness among the masses about the benefits of hand washing with soap through active participation of media. Lashari said that the poor sanitation and hygiene is also proving to be one of the barriers against tackling polio as the virus is transmitted through oral-faecal route, specially in situations of poor hygiene.
"A polio case has been found in Pakistan in 2008, which came from a family who do not have any toilet", he said. He further said that other major diseases caused due to poor sanitation and unhygienic conditions included diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and E, trachoma, intestinal worms and others.
"Diarrhea kills more than 1.5 million children under the age of five globally every year. In Pakistan, diarrhea is responsible for 11 percent of under-five deaths", he maintained. He said that adopting hand washing with soap as an ingrained habit could save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention.
The inaugural Global Hand washing Day assumes special significance as the UN General Assembly has declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation to promote improved hygiene practices and draw attention to the World's enormous sanitation challenge. The Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with provincial/regional governments and partners has developed a comprehensive country plan for international year of sanitation.
The government has set targets, which included finalisation and approval of the provincial sanitation strategies/action plans by the respective Cabinets; dissemination of hygiene messages focusing on hand washing with soap, construction and use of latrine and use of safe water amongst at least 20 percent of the country's population; provision of improved sanitation facilities to at least 6 percent of the country's population and finalisation and approval of the National Drinking Water Policy by the Federal Cabinet and development of action plan for its implementation, said Lashari.
Speaking on the occasion Martin Mogwanja, said that environmental and natural resources damage costs Pakistan about Rs 1 billion everyday. "If proper water supply and sanitation services are provided and safe hygiene practices are followed throughout Pakistan, a one third of this damage cost would be prevented, saving over Rs 300 million a day", he said.