Sanitation and water supply are two sides of the same coin that affect the health status in rural and urban areas. Their status and availability deteriorate as a result of population pressure (density). In addition, they also reflect the level of development of a country. In fact, level of sanitation and availability of water I supply are very unsatisfactory in most of the developing countries but not in the developed countries. Of course, rapid urbanization and industrialization adversely affected the sanitation in most of the mega cities even in the developed countries. As a result of education and modernization, sanitation improved in the developed countries but it remained very low in developing countries because of the low social development of their population. Similarly, water supply (safe drinking water) is becoming a scarce commodity as a result of rapid growth in population and ecological changes. When population grew rapidly and ecology was disturbed by denuding rain forests, safe drinking water became scarce. According to UNESCO, in 1850 the per capita availability of fresh water was 33,000 cubic meters per person per year but it has reduced to a very meagre level of 8500 cubic meters per person (UNESCO, 1991 : 43). This is true in most of the Asian countries. For instance, drying up of the Cauveri river in the southern part of India is a classical example of ecological degradation which affects the sanitation condition in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states.
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| Percentage of population with access to safe water and sanitation |
When you look at Table and compare the scenario of availability of safe drinking water, significant differences are noticed among the seven Asian countries. Countries like South Korea, China and Thailand are on the top with respect to provision of safe drinking water to 75 per cent of their population as against less than half (46%) population served with safe drinking water in India. The other Asian countries except Bangladesh are also ahead of India in providing these basic necessities of life to their population. In other words, India and Bangladesh are least developed compared to other Asian countries in providing safe water for drinking. Now, you may be wondering as to how it is important for health promotion. As you know, diarrhoea and dysentery, which are water-borne diseases, form the major killers of infants in developing countries. In addition, cholera epidemics are also caused through water or food. Similarly, jaundice, typhoid, etc., are spread through the medium of water and food. Now, you may be aware why water-borne diseases are more in Bangladesh and India than in the other Asian countries.
The level of sanitation reflects the development of a country. It is better in developed countries than in the developing nations. No doubt, it also reflects the cultural diversity of the population because beyond development, sanitation is also conditioned by the culture of the population. For instance, sanitation is of a very high order in Kerala particularly among the Kurichia tribe in the Malabar region and also among certain sects of Brahmins who are generally educated. A similar situation exists in many Asian countries particularly in Thailand, China and South Korea.
Sanitation promotes health status of the people. How to develop consciousness on health and sanitation should be our major concern today because sanitation adversely affects the health condition of the population leading to several endemic diseases. Dreaded diseases like cholera and several other communicable diseases can be controlled only when sanitation is improved. Now, let us see how sanitation exists in Asian countries.
Among the Asian countries, South Korea and China lead with universal better sanitation which is not there in all other Asian countries except Japan. Next to them, Thailand has progressed considerably in the promotion of better environmental sanitation. India (13.0%) and Bangladesh are at the bottom level with very poor sanitation facilities compared to most of the other Asian countries. Now you may get a realistic picture &out sanitation in the context of developing countries of Asia and not to speak of the developed countries in the world. Therefore, improvement of sanitation assumes a very high priority for the promotion of health in India.
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