Two of every three among South Asia’s 1.5 billion people lack access to appropriate sanitation. Appropriately therefore, the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, opened the Third South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN III) in New Delhi on November 18, 2008. SACOSAN is South Asia’s flagship inter-ministerial conference on sanitation.
Prime Minister Singh emphasized that “Sanitation was concerned with not just personal health but also human dignity.” He quoted Mahatma Gandhi saying, “sanitation was more important than independence”.
Mr. Singh spoke of the need to see sanitation as part of an “integrated public health policy.” A simple intervention such as washing hands regularly could reduce diarrhea by 50 percent and save lives. The Prime Minister called for sanitation to be recognized as the “birthright of every citizen of South Asia”.
SACOSAN takes place every two years with delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, in addition to the host country.
At SACOSAN III, government officials and civil society activists, media professionals, and sanitation and public health policy-makers are discussing several basic issues. These include enhancing latrine coverage in rural areas, improving urban sanitation in South Asia’s rapidly growing cities, empowering women and other disadvantaged groups in dealing with technological issues such as ecological sanitation, and the disposal of new forms of waste.
Conference deliberations formally began on November 19, 2008 with individual sessions on “Sanitation for Dignity,” “Media Advocacy,” “Urban Sanitation,” “Sanitation for Health,” and “Ecological Sanitation.”
