¡¡¡¡DHAKA, Oct. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Only some 39 percent of the population in South Asian countries have adequate sanitation facilities at present, and Sri Lanka bears the highest coverage rate of 83, while Afghanistan the lowest as 12.

¡¡¡¡This was revealed at a three-day South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN) beginning here Tuesday to discuss regional state of sanitation and hygiene, and generate political commitmentthat prioritizes regional policy and targets.

¡¡¡¡Some 200 delegates from nine countries attended the regional conference hosted by the government of Bangladesh, as well as co-hosted by a number of international organizations including United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Who Health Organization (WHO).

¡¡¡¡It was pointed out at the conference that the practice of open defecation by the majority of people in the region is a serious threat to the environment and to the control of disease.

¡¡¡¡Resource allocation for sanitation in many Asian countries tilts towards urban areas and to the rich, while consequently it is the most vulnerable and marginalized population in urban and rural areas that suffer from minimal access to sanitation facilities.

¡¡¡¡According to a research, the sanitation coverage in nine South Asian countries participating SACOSAN increased from 25 percent in1990 to a bit less than 40 percent in 2000, as compared with 48 percent in all Asian countries in the same period.

¡¡¡¡Poor sanitation lead to degraded environment and poor health, and the children are more susceptible to unhygienic conditions. The countries with poor sanitation coverage always have high under-five child mortality rate, added the research.

¡¡¡¡Further development of the sanitation and hygiene sector of South Asian countries is constrained by a series of problems including financial constraints, lack of political wills, absence of appropriate legislation and regulations, as well as lack of awareness of hygiene among civilians especially the poor.

¡¡¡¡Describing financial constraint as the biggest factor that impedes the improvement of sanitation situation in South Asia, chief of Water, Environment and Sanitation section of UNICEF Vanessa Tobin told Xinhua that it was a wrong old conception that promotion of sanitation must be "very expensive," and it is very important to make people realize hygiene promotion can be cost effective in saving lives and reducing illness.

¡¡¡¡Jo Smet, a senior programme officer of International Water and Sanitation Center, told Xinhua the mere government support in sanitation sector is not enough, and he underscored the involvement of private sector including small-scaled enterprises, local entrepreneurs and the community-based organizations as practical means to promote sanitation.

¡¡¡¡It was mentioned at the conference that the targets in this regard raised by the United Nations Millennium Declaration are to reduce by half the number of people without access to hygienic facilities by 2015 all over the world, and to provide sanitation to all by 2025.

¡¡¡¡On the other hand, the population of these South Asian countries increased from 1,170 million in 1990 to 1,410 million in2000 at an exponential rate of 1.88 percent per year, and the population is expected to rise to 1,830 million in 2015 and 2,120 million in 2025 at modest growth rate.

¡¡¡¡It means in order to achieve the international millennium targets, countries in South Asia must bring an additional population of 850 million by 2015 and 1,595 million under improvedsanitation by 2025. This will require an increase in the rate of sanitation coverage to an average 3.75 percent per year, compared with that of only 1.8 in the period of 1990-2000.

¡¡¡¡It was also mentioned at the conference that the host country Bangladesh with a national sanitation coverage of 43 percent has set an ambitious target to achieve the total sanitation by 2010, far ahead of the international development goal. Enditem