Efforts by Pacific island countries to improve sanitation, hygiene and drinking water will need to quintuple if the Pacific's millennium development goals are to be met. This finding comes from a joint World Health Organization (WHO) and Pacific Islands Applied Geo-science Commission (SOPAC) report released today.
"Converting commitment into action – Sanitation, hygiene and drinking water in the Pacific island countries" provides a concise overview of a sector in need.
"The report makes a strong case for more substantial investments into the water and sanitation sector" according to Ms Cristelle Pratt, Director of SOPAC. The 57-page report is to be launched today in Melbourne, Australia where sector agencies from Asia and the Pacific are attending the AusAID and World Vision 'Sanitation and Water Conference 2008'.
Statistics from the WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme used in the report reveal persistent and direct impacts on the populations of 14 developing Pacific countries from water, sanitation and hygiene related diseases.
As of 2006 only 48% have access to safe excreta disposal. Water supplies fare no better, with only 46% having adequate and safe drinking-water, and just 13% having the 'luxury' of piped water. According to the report, at least 2,800 deaths each year are attributable to the resulting diseases.
Dr Chen Ken, Representative for the WHO South Pacific Office in Suva, Fiji, agreed there has been much progress but he emphasized "Pacific countries and partners could do much more to support the achievement of such basic needs".
Dr Chen Ken said useful cooperation frameworks and partnerships among governments and sector players have been established. However, according to the Report, five times the effort is needed from donors, supporting partners and governments alike to halve the number of households without safe sanitation and drinking water by 2015. The report was prepared under AusAID funding.
A Pacific "Drinking Water Safety Planning Guide" is also being launched today by SOPAC and WHO under a joint programme funded by Australia with New Zealand technical support. The Guide, intended for use by health and water sector partners, was developed through two years of country-level activities to improve urban and rural water systems in the Pacific.
To view full report: Sanitation, hygiene and drinking-water in the Pacific island countries
For more information, view website: http://www.pacificwater.org/