by api

BANGKOK,  – By some measures, Bangladesh is modernizing rapidly – one in two residents now owns a cell phone. However, when it comes to basic sanitation, progress is clogged.

While some point to obstacles of funding and a lack of political leadership, others say toilets, despite their long-established health benefits, have an image problem.

“People don’t associate latrines with health,” said Azizur R. Mollar, who studied sanitation in Dhaka in 2010. “To many Bangladeshis, a toilet is just a concrete platform. Going to the toilet is a matter of practicality.”

By comparison, he said, the mobile phone has become “a symbol of the betterment of lives” for Bangladeshis, the usage of which has skyrocketed in a decade. There were 79 million mobile phone users in 2011, up from just 279,000 in 2000, according to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

The number of non-communal household toilets, meanwhile, has grown at a much slower rate, to the dismay of those working to achieve the water and sanitation (watsan) Millennium Development Goal – 70 percent sanitation coverage by 2015. The government set a goal for 100 percent coverage by 2010, but has postponed that to 2013.

Total coverage is at 53 percent, leaving nearly half of the country’s 140 million people without proper sanitation, and exposed to diarrhoea and infectious diseases like cholera and dysentery, according to the Water Supply and Sanitation 2010 report by the World Health Organization and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The definition of “proper sanitation” rules out toilets shared by a community, and open defecation – methods millions of Bangladeshis still use today.

A study released in August by Human Research Development Centre (HRDC) – supported by WaterAid, UNICEF and the government – showed a dismal national sanitation situation and a misuse of funding. The government began subsidizing sanitation projects in 2004 and has contributed US$53 million since that time.

Conversely, inadequate sanitation is costing the country $4.2 billion a year, according to a report released in October by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), a multi-donor partnership administered by the World Bank.

A tough sell

Sufficient funding and effective leadership are necessary to improve sanitation in Bangladesh, but smart marketing campaigns are needed, too, those working on the issue said.

“Like cell phones, the latrine needs to be perceived as a cool and sexy commodity, something that people desire and want to talk about,” said Rose George, author of Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters.

Comparing sanitation campaigns to the marketing of cell phones, Khairul Islam, country director of WaterAid (the world’s first international NGO dedicated to the provision of safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education), said: “Cell phones have been marketed aggressively. You see advertisements on billboards and TV every five minutes, but not even 1 percent of that money has been put into promoting sanitation… There is no specific national strategy on hygiene promotion.”

Mollar suggested another reason for the difficulty encountered in drumming up interest in toilets is the absence of clear, immediate and tangible benefits.

As a result, changing people’s perceptions and habits is a challenge both in Bangladesh, and globally. An estimated 40 percent of the world is living without access to toilets.

“People aren’t very rational about sanitation,” said George, who has studied the history of human waste and toilets. “While the developed world has taken toilets for granted, there are people on the other side of the world who are happy to openly defecate and don’t protest about it.”

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source www.irinnews.org

by api

Photo: Mubashar Hasan/IRIN

An elderly man sleeps on the streets in Dhaka

DHAKA,  – As their numbers grow and their family support weakens, elderly people in Bangladesh are not getting the social protection they need, say campaigners and researchers.

Government payments for the elderly are inadequate, critics say, and only one in four elderly are getting them, according to a study by HelpAge International. Meanwhile, adult children and younger relatives, who traditionally served as a safety net for older generations, are being pulled away, often for work.

The sight of an elderly person begging on the street was unusual five years ago, but it is increasingly common, said Shashwatee Biplob, a social protection and policy manager with HelpAge International in Bangladesh.

“More and more elderly Bangladeshis are being left alone,” she said.

Industrial development, a lack of livelihood options, and a cultural shift towards a nuclear family structure are all contributing to the isolation of the elderly. Even climate change is at play. As river erosion claims homes and soil becomes less fertile, people move away in search of economic opportunities, Biplob explained.

Zamirul Miah, 65, moved to the city a couple of years ago after losing his home to river erosion, while his son moved to the Middle East for work.

“Begging is my only profession now,” said Zamirul Miah, 65, who sleeps on a city footpath.

Safety nets

The population aged 60 and above in Bangladesh is projected to grow 8 percent by 2020, 12 percent by 2035 and 17 percent by 2050, according to a study by Mustafiz Rahman of Innovators, a local research organization.

The bulk of elderly people are women living in rural areas, Rahman said. The average age at marriage is higher for men than women in Bangladesh, and women typically live longer.

“They don’t receive any sort of help from government and even from NGOs,” Rahman said of this group.

The Ministry of Social Welfare runs a programme to disburse US$3.97 per month to elderly women 62 and older and to men 65 and above. More than 2.4 million people received the Old Age Allowance this year, costing the government more than $11 billion, said Ranjit Kumar Biswas, secretary in charge of the Ministry of Social Welfare.

The ministry is also working to establish six homes for the elderly in six divisions across the country, Biswas said.

Critics of the government initiatives say that with prices rising the allowance is insufficient, and it is also poorly managed.

Rahman said the increasing costs of food and other essentials have forced the poor to cut back on the quantity and quality of their food. The government allowance covers less than six days worth of meals, said Rahman, who estimated that 71 US cents would pay for three daily meals in Bangladesh.

Excluded

According to one study from HelpAge International, about 76 percent of elderly Bangladeshis are being excluded from government support and social protection, in the form of the Old Age Allowance and a pension payment, Biplob said.

The selection process for the allowance is flawed, and there is nepotism, inefficiency, and a lack of accountability that plague the system, Rahman said.

“The government needs to be more transparent in disbursing payments to real old people,” Rahman said.

Government officials said they would look into allegations about mismanagement.

NGOs in Bangladesh are not doing enough to support the elderly in regard to their livelihood options, either, NGO sources said.

While microcredit is perceived to be an effective way to help the rural poor, according to HelpAge International, older people are often excluded from getting loans or support from microfinance institutions.

Zahura Begum, a 70-year-old domestic worker, said she has never received an old age allowance. She started working for a family in Dhaka 10 years ago, after her husband left her for another woman.

“None of my three daughters or my son has a place for me in their houses,” said an emotional Zahura, who hails from the Dinajpur District. “I don’t know about old-age allowance. Besides, it has little use to me, since I have no place to go.”

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source www.irinnews.org

By api

BANGKOK – Eighteen million children in 85,000 schools across Bangladesh washed their hands with soap to mark National Sanitation Month on 25 October.

We are also reaching marginalized groups like hawkers, street-dwellers and garbage collectors for the first time, said Shirin Hussain, communication for development specialist at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Bangladesh, adding that government officials and NGO representatives also participated in handwashing demonstrations across the country.

Handwashing may seem self-explanatory, but experts say it is not always done properly. “Everyone knows it’s a good habit to wash their hands but they don’t do it. Much research has shown washing hands with soap is a lot more effective, reducing diarrhoea by 40-50 percent,” said Valerie Curtis, director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

According to the World Health Organization, diarrhoea claims over 50,000 children’s lives in Bangladesh every year. Worldwide, nearly one in five child deaths are due to diarrhoea.

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source www.irinnews.org