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Improving on haves and have-nots

Nature volume 452, pages 283–284 (2008)Cite this article

All-or-nothing targets for global access to basic amenities such as drinking water and sanitation are outdated. The time has come, says Jamie Bartram, for a more fluid approach.

Regrettably, shamefully, 150 years after that 'sanitary revolution', the consequences of poor sanitation remain devastating. A cholera outbreak in Peru starting in 1991 killed 3,000 people in 15 months, costing the economy US$770 million — more than the investment in water and sanitation during the entire preceding decade1. Around the world, the toll adds up: inadequate drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene cause around 6% of all diseases2.

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References

  1. Suárez, R. & Bradford, B. The economic impact of the cholera epidemic in Peru: an application of the cost-of-illness methodology, WASH Field Rep. No. 415 (Water and Sanitation for Health Project, 1993). http://pdf.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNABP618.pdf

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  2. A Snapshot of Sanitation in Africa WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (2008). http://www.childinfo.org/areas/sanitation/Snapshot_of_Sanitation_in_Africa.pdf

  3. Unravelling Sanitation Practices (WHO Geneva & UNICEF New York, 2008).

  4. http://www.euro.who.int/emergencies/fieldwork/20080208_1 (2008).

  5. Hutton, G. & Haller, L. Evaluation of the costs and benefits of water and sanitation improvements at the global level (Water, Sanitation and Health Protection of the Human Environment, WHO, 2004). http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/wsh0404/en/index.html

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  1. Jamie Bartram is coordinator of the water, sanitation and health programme at the WHO's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.,

    Jamie Bartram

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  1. Jamie Bartram
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Bartram, J. Improving on haves and have-nots. Nature 452, 283–284 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452283a

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