ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Improved sanitation Ethiopia could save lives of millions of children and raise the status of local women, only if its policymakers and the general public collectively took up the challenge to bring about change, a UNICEF official said here Monday.

Belinda Abraham, sanitation and hygiene specialist with the UN children’s agency, said that many children in the East African country die needlessly daily because of diarrhoeal diseases and lack of sanitation.

Generating momentum behind global sanitary transformation would lead to better health for children as well as social and economic development, personal dignity and protection of the environment to break the cycle of poverty, according to UNICEF.

Observing 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation (IYS), the UN children’s agency Monday challenged the media in Ethiopia to help promote public sanitary habits.

The UN General Assembly has designated the year to create awareness of the plight of more than two billion people who lack access to sanitation worldwide.

“Lack of sanitation and water is a major issue in human development indicators. It is something that UNICEF holds to the heart because it affects millions of children,” said Abraham.

Spearheading the International Year of Sanitation, UNICEF along with other UN partners have come together to engage people, decision makers, the media, school children, parents and teachers to discuss the issue.

Noting that 35 million people in Ethiopia, about half of the total population, have no toilet, Abraham said the situation concerned everybody to bring about the necessary change.

“These people defecate in the bush. They do not have a toilet. This is not only lack of dignity but it also destroys the environment.

“Imagine the millions who are going out into the bush, defecating into the environment. Where does that lead?

“That defecation leads itself into the water areas, the water that we use to water vegetables that are sold in the market and it is a cycle that we all endure.

“We know that we have the technology to handle this. We have low-cost toilets, we have legislation in place, but what is really needed is about changing practices and behaviour,” she explained.

According to the official, the key message of the IYS is that sanitation is vital to health and important for the social and economic development of any society.

The Ethiopian government estimates that it would cost US$650 million to provide 100 percent universal access to sanitation in the country. [The stupid government spends much more than that for buying weapons to terrorize its people and invade neighboring countries.]

But, on the economic point of view, UNICEF maintains that Ethiopian households spend a lot of money to take care of children suffering from preventable diseases that are caused by lack of sanitation and water.

“Sanitation is a very cost-effective intervention. Something simple like hand washing can save 47 percent of the diarrhoea episodes in this country.

“Money saved in health care costs can go into other economic productive areas,” Abraham added.

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