Wider though still limited access to improved sanitation services.

Rural sanitation could also be improved through strengthening health extension services.

Barely one third of the population of South Asia uses improved sanitation facilities.

Improved and sustained hygiene (particularly hand washing), water safety and environmental sanitation practices.

The strategic aim is to expand the promotion of improved hygiene and sanitation, while maintaining support for improved water supply services.

Since 1990, over 1 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water and sanitation services.

Service delivery in basic health and water and sanitation has improved, along with efforts to strengthen breastfeeding practices.

WASH interventions such as improved sanitation for people living with HIV AIDS and water supply and sanitation facilities in health posts contribute to the quality of health programmes, as do provisions to support the productive uses of water, which also lead to improved nutrition and economic gains.

Community based organizations and non governmental organizations could act as catalysts for improved hygiene and sanitation in rural communities, and Governments could assist in training local suppliers of sanitation fixtures and services.

Increased use of safe water and sanitation facilities and improved hygiene practices contribute significantly to public health programmes in general.

Improved sanitation should be of high priority, employing small scale solutions in urban areas and the exchange of best practices.

Programmes that combine improved sanitation and hand washing facilities in schools with hygiene education can improve the health of children for life.

The biggest shortages of improved water sources and sanitation services are in the rural areas of Escuintla, Retalhuleu, Petén and Alta Verapaz.

Nonetheless, 2.6 billion people over half of the developing world's population do not have improved sanitation facilities, and 1.1 billion are still using water from unimproved sources.

Improved sanitation and hygiene practices could be encouraged by setting targets and providing incentives to communities to meet them (as with the zero open defecation initiative in India).

Sanitation services could be improved by directing domestic resources and donor support, including support by multilateral and regional development banks, to areas of greatest need and greatest impact.

The only way to sustainably reduce this massive burden of disease is through the use of safe drinking water, sanitation and improved hygiene practices, in particular hand washing with soap.

Between 1994 and 2002, the proportion of homes with improved sanitation services, defined as a lavatory bowl connected to a drainage system, a lavatory connected to a septic tank, or a flush toilet.

Sanitation projects could benefit from arrangements under various multilateral environmental agreements, such as the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, which provides carbon credits for improved sewage treatment systems with methane capture.

Sanitation

We need improved capacity, improved coordination and improved financing.

(b) Sanitation

C. Sanitation

Increasing the equitable access to and use of safe water and basic sanitation services and improved hygiene practices will reduce child mortality, improve health and education outcomes, and contribute to reduced poverty and sustainable development as a whole.

Smallholder farmers and others living in impoverished rural areas require soil nutrients, better plant varieties, improved water management and training in modern and environmentally sustainable farming practices, along with access to transport, water, sanitation and modern energy services.

One example is sanitation.

Water and sanitation services

9.1 Water and sanitation

Liveable housing and sanitation.

Two billion people without sanitation.

E. Utilities, water and sanitation

12.8.2 Sanitation and drinking water

Access to sanitation services for the poor could also be expanded through dedicated comprehensive programmes, such as total sanitation campaigns .

Today coverage of the affected population in the six life saving sectors  food, water, sanitation, shelter, health and nutrition is between 55 and 75 per cent, having improved significantly since May 2004, when it was as low as 5 per cent in some sectors.

Key result area 3 addresses the need for increased access to improved water and sanitation systems to control water borne diseases that undermine child survival and development, reduce productivity and raise health care costs and reduce the burdens that fall particularly on girls and women.

61 192. International Year of Sanitation, 2008

The importance of water, sanitation and hygiene

Infrastructure, sanitation and environment in rural areas

It's improved.

While UNICEF continues to be involved in institutional sanitation (primarily in schools and in health centres) and may support communal sanitation alternatives (mainly in emergencies), its focus will continue to be on safe and affordable sanitation in households.

By 2015, Senegal aims to implement rural sanitation programmes and to make adequate sanitation available to about 80 per cent of the population.

A holistic approach to sanitation could include measures for changing attitude and behaviour as a complement to investments in sanitation facilities and infrastructure.

Possible examples in the agricultural sector include improved manure management, reduction of enteric fermentation, improved fertilizer usage or improved water management in rice cultivation.

Mass immunization has largely eliminated polio. Thanks to new programs of oral rehydration and improved water and sanitation, we have seen marked gains in treating dysentery and other parasitic diseases, contributing to a 27 decline between 1990 and 2007 in mortality rates for children under five.

The UN Habitat Water and Sanitation Trust Fund was launched in 2004, to promote Millennium Development Goal 7, target 10, on water and sanitation.