Diarrhoea kills 45,000 children yearly

According to the recently unveiled report by WHO titled "UN Water — Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water 2017", 500,000 people die globally due to diarrhoea. In this figure are 45,000 Bangladeshi children. The report published on April 13 cannot be ignored by policymakers.

Over the years, we have witnessed a population explosion as millions migrated to our cities in search of employment opportunities. We have also seen the rise of classes of unscrupulous and powerful business entities that have encroached upon our rivers and polluted them with impunity. Today, we face a crisis of diabolical proportions where the city municipal corporations are simply overwhelmed in their fight to supply safe drinking water to its residents. The burgeoning slums in and around Dhaka have little in way of piped water and must, in many cases, resort to drinking river water. Millions of residents are now forced to buy water jars that are supposed to be safe, but in many cases are not, because there is nothing in way of quality control.

Our rivers are now the dumping grounds for all sorts of waste, from untreated industrial toxins to human excreta. The only way to reverse this level of pollution is for government to make substantial investments in improved sanitation facilities and enforcing environmental protection laws (that exist on paper) to penalise errant industries. If we are truly interested in saving the lives of these 45,000 (under-5) children, there needs to be a substantial increase over the current USD 5 per head the government spends on water and sanitation per year.