TOKYO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Government ministers and officials from over a dozen East and Southeastern Asian countries gathered Friday in Japan to discuss ways to upgrade the region's hygiene level and solve sanitation problems.

    The region is enjoying steady economic growth, yet there is "a massive lack of basic household sanitation and hygiene," said Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, an official with Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank before the conference.

    According to organizers, more than 170 delegates from Japan, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Mongolia, Cambodia, and other Asian countries are attending the two-day conference held in Beppu City, Oita prefecture of southern Japan.

    The conference seeks to expose the costs of inadequate sanitation and potential benefits of improved sanitation, and call for public and private investment to make progress, organizers said.

    A recent World Bank study estimated that poor sanitation and hygiene in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam incurs collective economic losses of around 9 billion U.S. dollars each year for these countries, which includes costs of treating sanitation-related illnesses, lost income through illness and premature death and other factors.

    The conference was co-organized by the Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization.