52% of the population has meagre hygiene provisions

NGOs jointly launch ‘Keep your promise on sanitation’ initiative.

PESHAWAR: A number of non-governmental organisations from across the country have launched a year-long campaign, demanding better sanitary provisions.

‘Keep your promise on sanitation’, jointly launched by WaterAid, Plan International Pakistan and the Integrated Regional Support Program (IRSP), plans to hold talks with the federal and provincial governments to provide proper sanitation facilities to residents, particularly in rural areas.

Briefing journalists at the Peshawar Press Club, IRSP Executive Director Syed Shah Nasir informed that nearly 52% of the population, 94 million people, have access only to meagre hygiene provisions while 23% still defecate in open.

“Pakistan has the second highest child mortality rate of under five-year-olds in South Asia,” he said, explaining the impact of poor hygiene. “Neglecting sanitation costs this country nearly Rs344 billion annually which is a staggering 3.9% of the GDP”.



Sanitation is at a crisis point and requires urgent action from the state, said Nasir, adding the overall effort of the government, particularly in reaching the slums, is unsatisfactory.

He demanded that the government should deliver the commitment it made at regional and national levels in order to achieve real progress and identify the excluded areas that require most attention.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2013.