Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Sanitation

Universal sanitation in South East Asia (pdf 1.9mb)

This background paper for the first East Asia Ministerial Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene (EASan) aims to illuminate the costs of inadequate sanitation, the untapped benefits of improved sanitation and the immediate actions that need to be taken.

Some statistics highlighted throughout the publication include:
- 800 million people in East Asia lack adequate sanitation
- Sustainable access to improved sanitation can reduce child mortality by up to 55 percent
- Urban proportion of EASan population is forecast to reach 50% by 2015
- Premature death is one of the most serious impacts of inadequate sanitation
- Three-quarters of those without sanitation live in rural areas

This paper states that awareness is a key ingredient to accelerate the progress in sanitation and that there is a need to understand the nature, magnitude and urgency of the sanitation challenge.

Also highlighted are lessons learned in the six additional EASan participant countries and supplies supplementary learning from other developing country contexts.

 

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