SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET
COLOMBO: As the deadline of meeting the Millennium Development Goals nears (2015), south Asian nations got together here to deliberate on strategies to reach sanitation facilities to the uncovered 700 million plus people in the region. India has the largest uncovered population in the world.
“The MDG clock is ticking away. It is very easy to become discouraged,” said Daniel Toole, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia. But since there was a renewed sense of urgency, all the stake-holders had to work harder to achieve the goals, he added.
“According to the United Nations, 2.6 billion people in the world do not have improved sanitation facilities. The most disconcerting fact is that 72 per cent of this 2.6 billion live in Asia,” said Dinesh Gunawardena, Sri Lankan Minister for Water Supply and Drainage, at the inaugural session of the fourth South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN IV).
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(Thanks to Pritam Rohila)