ASEO: Sanitation for All

Abstract

Globally, an approximate of 2.5 billion citizens lack access to improved sanitation. A facility is concluded to be improved when it hygienically filters out human waste from a living environment. Absence of improved sanitation results in people suffering from poor health lost of income, inconvenience and humiliation. The second most alarming risk factor for poor health is lack of clean water and an inadequate access to improved sanitation. Improper disposal of human waste results in the increase of diarrhea-related diseases and mortality, especially in kids and the younger generation. Part of the sanitation target of the Sustainable Development Goals is to eliminate open defecation (OD) by 2030. Open defecation refers to the practice whereby people go out in fields, bushes, forests, open bodies of water, or other open spaces rather than using the toilet to defecate. Open defecation has upsetting repercussions for public health. Faecal pollution in a surrounding and lack of sanitary precautions continue to be one of the leading causes of child mortality, morbidity, under nutrition, stunting, and can potentially have negative effects on cognitive growth. Lack of sanitation can also be an obstacle to schooling and learning opportunities, with the female counterparts, often predominantly vulnerable to these consequences of poor services. Open defecation is a practice that has been implemented for a long period of time ; it is a deeply-rooted custom in some societies. Eliminating it requires a constant and a systematically timed shift in the behavior of entire communities along with creating awareness on the adverse effects of poor sanitation practices, so that a new norm of proper use of hygiene and other sanitary practices are created and accepted.