Call for Total Sanitation in Pakistan by 2015

At least 51 million people continue to defecate in the open, and the cost of diarrhea and typhoid equals 1.8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. This was stated by Director General Environment at the first national conference on sanitation held in Islamabad on 28 - 29 May 2009. It took stock of provincial strategies, action plans and actual implementation on the National Sanitation Policy that was approved by the Federal Cabinet in 2006. In his keynote address, Architect Arif Hasan urged a shift from projects to large scale sanitation programmes. Media campaigns and informed public demand are essential for translating policy commitments into action. Revitalizing provincial institutions, an inclusive approach, and transparent rules for developers, appropriate training materials and effective extension are the other key elements, he added. Officials from the provinces and Federal territories reported on the status of sanitation plans. Adopting a community-led approach, Union Council Samaro in Sindh province has already achieved total sanitation. This has been verified by a six month long independent monitoring process.

The Environment Minister, Hameedullah Jan Afridi called for a commitment to achieve total sanitation nation-wide by 2015. Ayub Qutub, WSSCC National Coordinator, said that the target was achievable with ownership by Union Councils (UC), the immediate tier of local government. At a rate of just one household per day converted to sanitary practices, the 7,000 UCs across the country could achieve the total sanitation objective over the next 2,000 days till 2015. The delegates, comprising Federal, provincial and local government officials, and civil society representatives, along with resource persons from South Asia, deliberated on the elements of a national sanitation action plan. In his concluding remarks, the Environment Secretary, Kamran Lashari, asked for clear thinking on how to build community pride in a clean environment.

In addition to the Ministry of Environment, the sponsors of the conference were WSP Asia, Rural Support Programs Network (RSPN), UNICEF, PLAN Pakistan, WaterAid and USAID. PIEDAR made a resource person available.