omantribune.com, 23 March 2014
ISLAMABAD Pakistan received a paltry amount of Rs53 in water and sanitation aid for each of its citizens between 2010 and 2012, says a report released by international development charity WaterAid here.
According to the report, released over the weekend, 15.1 million Pakistanis (9 per cent of the population) do not have access to drinking water and those who have are often forced to drink contaminated water.
In 2010, Pakistan was provided $221m in aid for the sector. It has now been put on the map of developing countries most in need of investment in water and sanitation, according to the report entitled ‘Bridging the Divide’.
Fifty-three per cent of the population (92.8 million) do not have access to improved sanitation facilities and nearly 23 per cent (40 million) of the total population defecate in the open.
Pakistan will miss its millennium development goals (MDG) target for sanitation.
International aid remains a key element in the fight against water and sanitation poverty, because it complements household and national government resources. The most recent data confirm that fall in 2010 and 2011 in global aid for water and sanitation from countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee were reversed in 2012.
Source:www.omantribune.com/index.php