Availability of clean water, toilets, hygiene will boost economies of developing countries – WaterAid

 WaterAid, an NGO, says developing countries economies will be boosted by trillions of dollars over the next two decades if clean water, toilets and hygiene are available to everyone.

WaterAid, an international aid agency,  made the disclosure in a statement on Sunday.

According to it, its report titled : “Mission Critical, Invest in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for a Healthy and Green Economic Recovery,” shows  that reaching the levels of access defined by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals can unlock huge sums.

“Ensuring everyone has a toilet where waste is safely managed can yield 86 billion dollars per year in greater productivity and reduced health costs amongst other benefits.

” Ensuring everyone has somewhere to wash their hands with soap and water can yield 45 billion dollars per year.

” Ensuring everyone has a tap at home can yield 37 billion dollars per year.”

It said the report came after the U.K. Government faced wide criticism for revealing plans to slash aid spending on life-saving clean water, hygiene and sanitation programmes in developing countries by 80 per cent earlier this year.

It added that the government also faced a rebellion from their own MPs.

Vivid Economics conducted the research and analysis that feeds into the report.

It said that ensuring everyone, everywhere had access to even basic water, hygiene and toilets – which could mean a well within a 15-minute walk, a household toilet and soap and water to wash hands with, would bring returns of up to 21 times their cost.

The report noted that protecting water and sanitation infrastructure from worsening flooding was one of the best ways to protect the world’s most vulnerable people from the impacts of climate change.resilience.

It said that for every U.S. Dollar spent on strategic flood upgrades, 62 dollars in flood restoration costs could be avoided, as well as preventing life-threatening contamination of drinking water sources.

The report said that the provision of a community water pump or well can give women and girls the equivalent of 77 million working days per year that they currently spend collecting water.

It said that upgrading to a tap in every house would free-up 122 million working days that are annually stolen from women and girls

“The impact on the lives, prospects and freedom of women and girls, as well as a country’s economic success, would be transformative.

“Achieving the UN targets on sanitation could prevent up to six billion cases of diarrhoea and 12 billion cases of parasitic worms between 2021 and 2040.

“Diarrhoea kills more than 70,000 children each year, and hookworm – just one type of parasitic worms, affects 500 million people each year.

”Meaning that every year four million years are lost to people through ill-health or shortened lives,” the report said.

According to the report, universal access to handwashing can reduce cumulative infections in a respiratory disease epidemic even if no other actions are taken. (NAN)