Cambodia of
Sanitation Initiative
Poor Sanitation Costs
Cambodia Over US$450 Million a Year
Cambodia loses more than US$450 million annually due to poor
sanitation and hygiene practices, equivalent to US$32 per capita or Riels
130,000, according to a recent study “Economic Impacts of Sanitation in
Cambodia”, published in June 2008 by the Water Sanitation Program of the World
Bank.
Coverage According to the Demographic and Health Survey
in 2005 near ten million rural and one million urban Cambodians are living
without private sanitary toilets, and of these almost ten million people
nationwide are still practicing open defection.
Health Increased exposure to disease-causing pathogens
through poor sanitation and hygiene leads to at least 10 million cause of
diarrhea and over six thousand deaths per year, leading to average annual
economic losses of US$14 for each every Cambodian.
Water Sewage discharged untreated to water bodies and
leaking pit latrines are a major cause of water resource pollution in Cambodia,
affecting rivers, lakes and ground water, which serve as the drinking water
supply for most Cambodians. Water treatment for drinking and other house hold
purposes, and loss of fish production, together cause average annual economic
losses of over US$10 per Cambodian.
Population welfare in an increasingly prosperous
country with continued population growth and modernization, having to defecate
in the field of forest, or share a toilet with many other families, is not
considered an improved standard of living. Poor sanitation impacts on
well-being of population, particularly woman, when considering aspects such as
toilet comfort and cleanliness, convenience, privacy, security, and social
status. Equally important, inadequate toilets and hygiene standards at schools
are thought to cause higher rates of school drop-out and welfare loss,
especially among girls. It is estimated that over 600 million hours are lost
per year due to waiting time for shared latrines and travel time for open
defection, valued at almost US$3 per Cambodian.
Tourism Although Cambodian has strong potential
growth in tourism, poor sanitation and hygiene practices are an obstacle to
achievement of the anticipated growth rate in tourist numbers, causing
environmental and water degradation, disease, and threating food safety. Hence,
to safeguard future foreign exchange earnings, increased funds need to be
allocated to sanitation to make Cambodia a more attractive tourist destination.
What
needs to be done?
If the rate of latrine improvement continues at the same
pace as the progress between 1998 and 2006, the Cambodia rural sanitation
target year in CMDGs. At the same rate of progress, universal rural sanitation
coverage will take another 150 years.
Therefore, the
national sanitation target will not be reached without considerably
accelerating sanitation coverage by giving greater priority to sanitation.
Giving the huge economic cost of not having improved
sanitation and hygiene, it is recommended to:
-
Allocate higher investments to sanitation:
the huge economic losses due to poor sanitation make it imperative for the
Government of Cambodia to increase investments in the sanitation sector1.
This requires future strategy development in the sanitation sector.
-
Improve coordination and cooperation among
sector partners: The support and activities by all sanitation partners
needs to be better coordinated by the government in order to achieve in a
sustainable way. This includes greater consistency of NGO, donor and government
sanitation programs, and linking school and community-based sanitation.
-
Give top priority to rural areas and
low-income urban areas: With scarce financial resources for sanitation
programs, national investments should target population in rural areas as well
as the urban poor. Sanitation programs and selected technologies should be
based on the demand of the population.
-
Scale up sanitation and hygiene promotion
campaigns: Politicians, public officials and communities should be targeted
with information about the effects of poor sanitation and hygiene, and how to
select and implement affordable solutions. The local authorities must have an
important role in sanitation and hygiene promotion activities.
Source: Water and Sanitation
Program (WSP), Cambodia Country Office
111E1, Norodom Boulevard / Mail: 113 Norodom Boulevard, Phnom
Penh, Cambodia
Phone: (+855-23) 217 304 ext. 103 / Fax: (+855-23) 210 373
Email: wspeap@worldbank.org/
Web site: www.wsp.org
Hard copies of the Economics of Sanitation Initiative (ESI)
report are available from World Bank/WSP office, Phnom Penh. “Economic impacts
of sanitation in Cambodia “by Kov P, Sok H, Roth S, Chhoeun K, and Hutton G.
World Bank, Water and Sanitation Program. 2008.
The study was conducted by the Economic Institute of Cambodia
with the support from WSP.
WSP is an international partnership for improving water and
sanitation sector policies, practices, and capacities to serve poor people.
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