Arsenic In Madaripur
In response to the global call, the water target 10 of the “Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), subsequently expanded in WSSD in Johannesburg in 2002 to include sanitation target, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) set its national target of achieving 100% sanitation by 2010.This challenging target is much ahead of MDGs target. But GoB has realized the importance of sanitation for sustainable development and put emphasis on achieving the target that will have immense impact on poverty reduction.
National Policy Framework for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation
1. The Government’s goal is to ensure that all people have access to safe water and sanitation services at an affordable cost.
2. The policy emphasizes elements of behavioral changes and sustainability through user participation in planning, implementation, management, and cost sharing.
3. Ensuring the installation of one sanitary latrine in each household in the rural areas and improving public health standard through inculcating the habit of proper use of sanitary latrines is mentioned as one of the objectives.
4. About urban sanitation, the policy objective is to ensure sanitary latrine within easy access of every urban household through technology options ranging from pit latrines to water borne sewerage. Installing public latrines in schools, bus stations and important public places and community latrines in densely populated poor communities without sufficient space for individual household latrines is also emphasized.
5. Local government and communities shall be the focus of all activities relating to sanitation. All other stakeholders including the private sector, and NGOs and development partners shall provide inputs into the development of the sector within the purview of overall government policy with the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) ensuring coordination.
6. Appropriate sanitation technology options shall be adapted to specific regions, geological situations and social groups; continuous research and development activities shall be conducted to improve the existing technologies and to develop new technologies.
7. The role of women in the process of planning, decision-making and management shall be promoted through their increased representation in management committees and boards (Pourasabhas/ WASAs).
8. The users shall be responsible for operation and maintenance of sanitation facilities and will bear its total cost. However, in case of hard-core poor communities, educational institutions, mosques and other places of worship, the costs may be subsidized partially or fully. In public toilets separate provision shall be made for women users. Credit facilities are to be provided for the poor to bear costs of water and sanitation service. Private sector and NGO participation in sanitation shall be encouraged.
9. Within a specified period legislation shall be enacted making use of sanitary latrine compulsory. Regular qualitative and quantitative monitoring and evaluation shall be conducted to review progress of activities and revision of the strategy based on experiences. The Local Government Division will prepare Half Yearly Report on the activities of the sector and submit to the concerned
Key Actors in the Sector :DPHE; Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) ; WASAs Dhaka City Corporation,Zila Parishads (district councils); Upazila Unnayan Samannaya Committees (Upazila Development Coordination Committees), chaired in turn by union parishad chairmen, Union Parishads are responsible for promotion of hygiene education and creation of awareness about environmental sanitation among the rural population. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Private sector Multilateral support is being provided by UNICEF, IDA, ADB, and WHO
Current Sanitation Coverage
Bangladesh said that, despite government claims of 88 per cent, actual sanitation coverage in the country is only 39 percent. Speakers at the ceremony said that it was necessary to address the gap by analyzing the real situation; otherwise progress in the health sector would not be possible.
The report was released at the G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, in July 2008. One of its most alarming messages was that inadequate sanitation is the biggest killer of children under the age of five around the world. Some 9.7 million children die before reaching the age of five, 2.4 million of them due to poor sanitation.
WaterAid Bangladesh emphasized that the country is way behind in achieving the MDG for sanitation, and would reach it only in 2022, rather than 2015, if the government does not increase the budget. Investments in public health, they said, are an investment in the future, reducing child mortality and improving public health in general.
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) used the following data for its latest estimates (2008 report) on the water and sanitation coverage:
1. Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 1994
2. Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 1994
3. MICS 1995
4. MICS 1996
5. DHS 1997
6. Bangladesh Sample Vital Registration Survey 1998
7. MICS 1999
8. Progotir Pathey (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics & UNICEF), 2000
9. DHS 2000
10. Maternal Health Services and Maternal Mortality Survey 2001 (for sanitation only)
11. World Health Survey 2003
12. DHS 2004
13. MICS 2006