President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said Pakistan is committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 through a variety of interventions.
The interventions include real per capita income growth, expansion of schooling particularly for girls, decreasing pupil-teacher ratio, improving nutritional status of children and providing basic facilities in remote areas. The President stated this in a message issued on the occasion of World Water Day.
He said, the Vision 2030 and Mid Term Development Framework being implemented by the Government of Pakistan considers sanitation as an important sector and aim to improve the water, sanitation and hygiene situation in the country in line with the MDGs through the implementation of National Sanitation Policy.
The World Water Day is celebrated on March 22 every year, which provides a unique opportunity to invite attention of the government, the international community, civil society and individuals to take action.
"This year, the theme ''Sanitation matters,'' is a call to reach beyond the community and to capitalise on the energy and commitment of the people, and to achieve a common goal to bring global and local attention and to galvanise action, so that every person on the planet is made less vulnerable to water stress, water related disasters and poor water quality," the President said.
The UN General Assembly decided to designate 2009 as the International Year of Sanitation (IYS), with the overall objective of accelerating progress on sanitation to help save lives and foster economic and social development.
"The IYS is expected to build on decisions taken by the Commission on Sustainable Development and help keep the issue of sanitation at the forefront of the global agenda," he added. The President thanked the Ministry of Environment for promoting and co-ordinating preparatory actions for IYS. "Sanitation is one of the basic necessities, which not only contributes to human dignity and quality of life but is a prerequisite to fighting against diseases," he added.
Every year over 1.5 million people particularly children under five world-wide die of diarrhea apart from typhoid, Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), Avian Human Influenza (AHI) and Polio resulting from inadequate and unsafe water, poor sanitation and insufficient attention to hygiene behaviours.
It is estimated that about 91 million people of Pakistan lack access to improved sanitation, 48 percent of schools do not have access to toilet facility, around 50 percent of the garbage generated by major cities is disposed of, part of which at informal dumping sites.
Recognising the significance of the issue, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed to by UN member states, including Pakistan, committed to have by 2015, the proportion of population without access to sanitation, the President added.