MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
McMullan
The Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Mr Bob McMullan, today welcomed a report that highlights the sanitation and water challenges facing developing countries in our region.
The report by a coalition of academic and non-government organisations, including the Institute for Sustainable Futures and WaterAid Australia, was released to mark World Water Day.
Meeting the Sanitation and Water Challenge in South East Asia and the Pacific outlines priorities and actions for tackling the challenge of scaling up access to sanitation.
"Adequate sanitation and safe drinking water is crucial to improving the health and education outcomes of people living in poverty, particularly women, children and people with disabilities," Mr McMullan said.
"We must increase our efforts if we are to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, as called for by the UN's Millennium Development Goals."
More than 2.5 billion people, almost two fifths of the world's population, do not have access to adequate sanitation. More than 1.2 billion people have no sanitation facilities at all and more than 880 million people do not have access to safe water.
The report was produced following the Sanitation and Water Conference held in Melbourne in October 2008
"The outcomes from this conference have helped develop the Government's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Strategy and the related $300 million Access to Clean Water and Effective Sanitation Initiative," Mr McMullan said.
"This initiative will increase the Government's focus on meeting the challenges of sanitation in the Asia-Pacific and Africa and providing better water supply and sanitation services to poor communities and households in both rural and urban areas.
"The initiative will also support water and sanitation infrastructure in schools. The lack of proper toilets and safe drinking water is a significant barrier to accessing education, particularly for girls. Overcoming these physical barriers to education will be an important contribution to meeting the goal of universal primary education."