Universal sanitation in East Asia : mission possible ?

This joint publication has been prepared as a background document and thought-piece for the first East Asia Ministerial Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene (EASan), held in Beppu City, Japan on November 30 and December 1, 2007 and the forthcoming events of the International Year of Sanitation in 2008. The document has been prepared to discuss how the region could accelerate progress in sanitation. It aims to elucidate the costs of inadequate sanitation, the benefits of improved sanitation, and the immediate actions that need to be taken. It is hoped that this increased visibility, awareness, and knowledge will help to trigger and assist concerted efforts to increase political priority, stimulate household demand, and improve the supply of effective sanitation services.
Awareness is a key ingredient in improving the chances that this can happen. There is a need to understand the nature, magnitude, and urgency of the sanitation challenge; to recognize that inadequate sanitation not only pushes already disadvantaged sections of society into deeper illness, poverty and indignity, but also limits the region's economic growth and human development.
Inaction comes at a large economic and social cost. Despite steady progress in extending sanitation services, the numbers are a stark reminder of the magnitude and importance of the sanitation challenge in East Asia: 1) 800 million people remain without sanitation - almost half the population; and 2) diarrheal disease causes 190,000 deaths each year.