"Flying toilet" may conjure up the image of a technological device or a high flying airplane, yet the reality is not so clean or sanitary. A flying toilet, in the developing world, is a bag filled with human excrement which is flung onto neighboring rooftops or fields. These devices, which in many poor countries are the only option for people to get rid of their human waste, often rip open on contact with the ground to bake in the sun, contaminate water supplies and spread disease.
Despite the taboos surrounding it, lack of proper sanitation is no laughing matter. Almost half the world do not have access to basic latrines and are forced to make do with these most basic of toilets or none at all. For these 2.6 billion people lack of proper sanitation is often fatal.
Less than a century ago in North America, life expectancy was not even 50 years. Today, it is close to 80. The primary reason for the dramatic leap in average lifespan? Simply the ability to curtail the spread of infectious disease, largely through the creation of sewage systems. The prestigious British Medical Journal recently ranked sanitation as the most important medical advance since 1840, outranking even antibiotics and anesthesia in its impact on human well-being. Yet currently five times more children die each day from poor sanitation than from the effects of HIV/AIDS. Women suffer most from inadequate sanitation. Journeys to defecate in fields or forests, or even to public latrines, can be dangerous. The lack of safe sanitation facilities in schools prevents many young girls from getting an education and dashes their hope for a better future. And usually it is the women who care for children and relatives suffering from sanitation-related diseases.
In 2000, the leaders of every country in the world convened in New York to commit to the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which formed a blueprint for drastically improving the condition of the world's most marginalized people by 2015.
We have already passed the halfway point towards the target date and, while some MDGs appear to be on track, the sanitation goal, which is to halve the huge number of people in the world who do not have access to basic sanitation, is the least likely of all MDGs to be achieved. This is in spite of the fact that every $1 spent in improved sanitation yields $9 in additional benefits.
Worse yet, there is growing evidence that the lack of progress in sanitation is hampering progress in a number of other MDGs, including gender equity in primary school enrolment, reduced infant mortality rates and the promotion of economic growth in developing nations.
Considering the gravity and prominence of the worldwide sanitation crisis, one would expect it to be a top priority of our government. Tragically, this is not the case, as Canada's sanitation legacy is one of inaction.
The Canadian government entity responsible for investing in overseas sanitation projects is the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). In 2001, CIDA promised to produce a water and sanitation strategy in its Social Development Priority initiative and to invest money towards it. The five year term of the initiative is now complete, yet no additional money has been spent on water and sanitation under its auspices and no strategic plan has been developed.
CIDA says that its spending on "water and sanitation" has averaged about $70 million a year over the past three years. This is significantly below what is considered Canada's fair share contribution of $200 million a year which, if combined with proportionate amounts from the world's other wealthiest countries, would be sufficient to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation. Of the present $70 million, only a small amount, perhaps 10%, is directed to basic sanitation.
Canada's inaction is particularly disturbing considering that many other developed nations are acknowledging the need to get sanitation and water on the agenda and showing international leadership. Denmark, with a population of only 5 million, contributes almost 3 times as much as Canada. Japan has recently doubled its grants to the sector and is now the largest worldwide donor at $1.4 billion per year. The UK plans to triple its support to water and sanitation in sub Saharan Africa over three years. And the Netherlands has recently kick started the Global Sanitation Fund with a generous $45 million contribution.
CIDA has given no indication that it is considering boosting funding for sanitation. Given the overwhelming importance of sanitation and the number of lives that CIDA's delays have already cost, this is simply unacceptable.
March 22 is World Water Day, with the emphasis on sanitation, and the United Nations has declared 2008 to be the International Year of Sanitation. Canada can no longer ignore its international commitments. The Conservative government must instruct CIDA to act now on sanitation. Hopefully it won't require a flying toilet in their backyard for our parliamentarians to take action.
Ben Saifer is the national grassroots coordinator with Results Canada www.resultscanada.ca, a volunteer driven not for profit organization dedicated to alleviating the worst aspects of poverty, hunger and disease in our world.
Dr. Bob Dickson is a family physician in Calgary, Alberta, and is a partner with Results Canada.
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