Rural poor struggling up the sanitation ladder

Abstract

The report, which has a special focus on sanitation, details global progress towards the UN Millennium Development Goals. It also introduces a new way of assessing global, regional and country progress using the ‘ladder’ concept for both sanitation and drinking water. The ladder concept shows sanitation practices in greater detail, enabling experts to highlight trends in using improved, shared and unimproved facilities and the trend in open defecation. The report indicates that many countries are making rapid progress in improving households’ access to safe sanitation despite formidable odds. Yet, only 62% of the world’s population has access to improved sanitation – that is, uses a facility that ensures hygienic separation of human excreta from human contact (2006 figures). A further 8% shares an improved facility with one or more households, and another 12% uses an unimproved facility, such as an unimproved pit toilet or a bucket toilet. The remaining 18% of the world’s population practices indiscriminate or open defecation.

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