City Desk :
Adequate sanitation has become an urgent need to free the society from waterborne diseases as many people suffer from diseases because of their ignorance about healthcare, lack of adequate sanitation and safe water facilities, child specialists, educationists and development activists said.
In particular, the children are the worst victims of waterborne diseases specially diarrhea. About one lakh children under-five die of diarrhea each year in the country affecting its overall development. Ajahar Ali, Chief Executive Officer of Rajshahi City Corporation, says the population of slums in the city has been increasing over the last couple of decades along with the expansion of Rajshahi city. Poverty in urban areas creates slums and it is largely due to the transfer of the rural poor people to urban areas in search of proper facilitation. The presence of slums and their unhealthy environment within city is an ever-present threat to public health.
NGOs should come forward to take necessary steps and effective measures to ensure suitable facilities and start more programmes in slum areas on the issue of water supply and sanitation.
Moreover, specific rules and regulations need to be established by the governing bodies to provide adequate water supply, sanitary facilities in the slums, he added.
Dr Belal Uddin, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Department of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, said there should be adequate measures for providing sanitation facilities for the slum dwellers to bring them out of the vicious circle of poverty.
The number of such people is gradually increasing in the urban areas for various manmade and natural catastrophes and they need some necessary supports to mitigate their problems.
Dr Belal called for mass-participation to make the ongoing sanitation campaign a total success. He stressed the need for transforming the sanitation campaign into social movement for building a healthy society. The WatSan activities should be carried out in terms of promotion of community latrines and supply water connection for safe water use promotion with limited hygiene education for awareness rising. He viewed that concerted effort of all quarters particularly the community people side by side with the government efforts to attain total sanitation coverage by 2013. Terming the schoolboys and girls as the most vulnerable to worm infection, he called for making them aware about health hygiene and using sanitary latrine together with proper hand washing before taking every meal.
Adequate sanitation has become an urgent need to free the society from waterborne diseases as many people suffer from diseases because of their ignorance about healthcare, lack of adequate sanitation and safe water facilities, child specialists, educationists and development activists said.
In particular, the children are the worst victims of waterborne diseases specially diarrhea. About one lakh children under-five die of diarrhea each year in the country affecting its overall development. Ajahar Ali, Chief Executive Officer of Rajshahi City Corporation, says the population of slums in the city has been increasing over the last couple of decades along with the expansion of Rajshahi city. Poverty in urban areas creates slums and it is largely due to the transfer of the rural poor people to urban areas in search of proper facilitation. The presence of slums and their unhealthy environment within city is an ever-present threat to public health.
NGOs should come forward to take necessary steps and effective measures to ensure suitable facilities and start more programmes in slum areas on the issue of water supply and sanitation.
Moreover, specific rules and regulations need to be established by the governing bodies to provide adequate water supply, sanitary facilities in the slums, he added.
Dr Belal Uddin, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Department of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, said there should be adequate measures for providing sanitation facilities for the slum dwellers to bring them out of the vicious circle of poverty.
The number of such people is gradually increasing in the urban areas for various manmade and natural catastrophes and they need some necessary supports to mitigate their problems.
Dr Belal called for mass-participation to make the ongoing sanitation campaign a total success. He stressed the need for transforming the sanitation campaign into social movement for building a healthy society. The WatSan activities should be carried out in terms of promotion of community latrines and supply water connection for safe water use promotion with limited hygiene education for awareness rising. He viewed that concerted effort of all quarters particularly the community people side by side with the government efforts to attain total sanitation coverage by 2013. Terming the schoolboys and girls as the most vulnerable to worm infection, he called for making them aware about health hygiene and using sanitary latrine together with proper hand washing before taking every meal.
