The recently approved national sanitation policy envisages wide-ranging moves towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal-7 target to halve by 2015 the proportion of population without access to sanitation.
The policy, approved by the federal cabinet early this week, has been drafted in consultation with federal, provincial and local governments, development agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders. It would also take notice of indiscriminate disposal of plastic bags all over the country and recommend taking effective measures to eliminate this menace.
Sanitation facilities in Pakistan are presently available to about 42 percent of the total population, including 65 percent in urban areas and 30 percent in rural settlements, and sewerage facilities are almost non-existent causing serious public health problems. Nearly 45 percent of all households do not have access to latrines; only 5 percent households had access to a municipal garbage collection system.
The broad objectives of the National Sanitation Policy are: to ensure an open defecation-free environment; safe disposal of liquid, solid, municipal, industrial and agricultural waste; promotion of health and hygiene practices; integrate sanitation programmes with other programmes; institutional capacity building of stakeholders; increase awareness and community mobilisation; installation of sanitary latrines in households, schools, bus stations and important public places; change the attitude towards sanitation and; promote integrated management of municipal, industrial, hazardous and hospital wastes.
The cabinet was told that since the lack of sanitation and safe water supply directly relates to deterioration of public health, spread of diseases and environmental degradation, it is as, therefore, necessary to undertake timely preventive rather than expensive curative measures.
The national sanitation policy would be implemented at the provincial and district government levels, and should there be any contradiction or conflict with Local Government laws it would be required to be removed.