UN spurs initiative to end 'silence' on open defecation
UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson called on the international community to "break the silence" on open defecation and to provide aid to the 2.5 billion people across the world who live without basic sanitation.
Eliasson made the comment on Wednesday at a news conference held at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York as he unveiled the organization's global campaign for human sanitation.
"The campaign was launched to break the silence on open defecation and issue a call to action," he said.
The effort urges people to find instances of open defecation, learn what is behind them and participate in solutions.
Eliasson urged the acceleration of efforts worldwide to reach the sanitation targets listed under the UN's anti-poverty initiatives. The world should realize the Millennium Development Goals by the 2015 deadline, he said.
The target is to cut in half the proportion of people without access to sanitation.
Since 1990, the profile of the issue has been raised. About 1.8 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation since then, but there is still a long way to go, a news release on the new initiative said.
Meanwhile, the minimum goal of cutting in half the proportion of people lacking access to clean water has already been met.
A startling one billion people worldwide practice open defecation - 15 percent of the global population - UN figures show.
Eliasson characterized the situation as "a choice that has a terrible impact on the health of those people" and "leads to the death of thousands of children - one every two and a half minutes".
Nicholas Alipui, the director of programs at the United Nations Children's Fund, said that diarrhea and stunting are two major complications of open defecation.
"Stunting kills about half a billion children every year", while diarrhea is responsible for killing three quarters of a million children under the age of five, Alipui said.
"Ending open defection would contribute to a 36 percent reduction in diarrhea," he said.
(China Daily 05/30/2014 page10)
