earthquake-relief-wate_optSTAFF REPORT IBD: UNICEF has called upon the government of Pakistan, bilateral and multilateral donors to make further commitments to the water and sanitation sector in the country as due to the inadequate sanitation Pakistan has to bear economic losses totaling $5.7 billion each year.

These remarks were expressed by speakers at a recently held two-day national workshop, co-hosted by UNICEF and the Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) of the World Bank.

“Poor sanitation, hygiene and lack of safe drinking water trigger a downward slide into poverty,” said MNA Maryam Aurangzeb, who is an environmentalist, while speaking as the chief guest on the occasion.

As millions remain without adequate sanitation facilities in the country, the workshop brings together all stakeholders to assess the current situation about access to sanitation and to deliberate upon the course of action up to 2015 and beyond.

On the occasion, UNICEF also shared the findings and evaluations of a large-scale sanitation programme concluded by the organisation under PATS and also launched the findings of a baseline study from its ongoing programme, Sanitation Programme at Scale in Pakistan (SPSP).

They said that all stakeholders need to work together to scale up the pilots programmes and translate the sanitation policy principles into action for achieving the sanitation related MDG.

By Web Team

Technology Times Web team handles all matters relevant to website posting and management.