WASH News South Asia
News feed maintained by information specialists from IRC and partners.
Pakistan: Mindset change key to changing rural toilet habits
10 Mar 08
MIR GHULAM SHAH, 3 March 2008 (IRIN) - Until just a year ago Jan Bibi and her five daughters aged 6-18 began their day by getting up before sunrise, walking a couple of hundred metres from their home to a filthy enclosed communal space, digging a small hole and relieving themselves. The alternative was to [...]
Nepal - Country plan for the International Year of Sanitation 2008
10 Mar 08
Over 80 percent of diseases (including diarrhoea, cholera, intestinal worms, trachoma, typhoid) among adults and children are caused by lack of basic sanitation, according to a new government report entitled Nepal Country Plan for International Year of Sanitation 2008. The report said poor hygiene and sanitation were causing losses of over US$150 million per year [...]
Sri Lanka: Half a million people could be affected by conflict in 2008
10 Mar 08
COLOMBO, 25 February 2008 (IRIN) - The UN and NGOs working in the conflict-ridden north and east are warning of a mounting humanitarian toll in 2008 due to the escalation in hostilities between Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).Agencies should be prepared to assist “up to 500,000 conflict-affected individuals [...]
Afghanistan: Poor sanitation, bad toilets cause deaths, misery
08 Mar 08
ASADABAD, 5 March 2008 (IRIN) - Saliha still mourns the death of her three-year-old daughter, Halima, who died due to severe diarrhoea at a hospital in Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan, on 11 January.The child had drunk contaminated water which Saliha’s family collects from a nearby river and uses for all purposes, including drinking, cooking and [...]
Bangladesh: Towards “sanitation for all by 2010”
07 Mar 08
DHAKA, 4 March 2008 (IRIN) - “Half the slum is knee-deep in water during high monsoons. There is no electricity, no water supply. And the worst is that we do not have toilets,” said Tara Mia, a vegetable hawker who lives with his wife and three children in a Dhaka slum.From 2010-2015 Bangladesh will be [...]
Pakistan: Open defecation-free communities - one village at a time
06 Mar 08
KAMRA, 6 March 2008 (IRIN) - Until recently, Mohammad Nafees was like most children in his village when it came to relieving himself.“I used to poop outside. Just over there,” the nine-year-old giggled, pointing to the green field near his family’s home in the mountain village of Kamra, about 70km east of Islamabad.With UK funding, [...]
India: River-linking pacts to end water woes
05 Mar 08
Fri, Feb 29 01:20 AM, Yahoo! News IndiaThe governments of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat are poised to sign three new agreements to link their rivers in an attempt to harvest surplus water for irrigation and drinking purposes, and address shortages in some of the states. It could be a long-term solution to Mumbai’s [...]
India: Yamuna banks - A goldmine of water
03 Mar 08
AT THE heart of the protest against development projects on the Yamuna riverbed lies well-calculated science and concern for water security. In a study on water recharge potential of the Yamuna banks, protestors have found that the floodplains are a “goldmine of water” for Delhi. In the estimate, it has been found that by concretising [...]
India: Tossing copper, silver coins in rivers may help reduce water pollution
03 Mar 08
BHOPAL, FEBRUARY 26: The religious practice of devotees tossing coins in rivers across India can also be a recipe for purifying their water. One just needs to replace the regular metal coin with one made with copper-silver which can help in containing the river water pollution.The idea was one of the solutions mooted by a [...]
South Asia workshop: Sanitation and hygiene programmes must reach the poor
29 Feb 08
Participants at the South Asia Sanitation and Hygiene practitioners’ workshop in Bangladesh from 29 to 31 January 2008 identified five priority messages they will push in 2008:Sanitation and hygiene programmes must reach the poor and this is what should guide partnerships.More policy focus and funds are needed for urban sanitation for the poor.Local government and [...]
