Poor sanitation eats up Tk 30,000cr a yr

Inadequate sanitation causes a loss of $ 4.22 billion (Tk 30,000 crore) in Bangladesh every year. The amount is equivalent to 6.3 percent of the country's GDP in 2007, reveals a new report.
The report, 'The Economic Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation in Bangladesh', has been published by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) administered by the World Bank (WB), says a press release.
The report shows losses due to premature mortality and other health-related impacts of poor sanitation totalling about Tk 25,000 crore, which is followed by productive time lost in accessing sanitation facilities or sites for defecation at Tk 3,000 crore and drinking water-related impacts at Tk 1,500 crore.
Diarrhoea among children under five accounts for Tk 10,000 crore of all health-related economic impacts. In Bangladesh, diarrhoea, resulting from poor sanitation, is the largest contributor to health-related economic impacts, notes the report. This is followed by acute lower respiratory infections accounting for about 15 percent of all health-related impacts.
The report finds that poor households are the biggest victims of inadequate sanitation, experiencing about 71 percent of its total economic impact.
“Bangladesh's basic sanitation coverage rose from 33.2 percent in 2003 to 80.4 percent in 2009. This report shows that despite great success, much can still be done in the sanitation sector of Bangladesh,” observes Ellen Goldstein, WB country director in Bangladesh.
The losses caused by poor sanitation exceed Bangladesh's national development budget for 20072008 by 33 percent. It is five times higher than the national health budget, and three times higher than the national education budget in 2007, says the report.
Christopher Juan Costain, regional team leader for WSP in South Asia, says, “Bangladesh lost US$ 29.6 per capita, which demonstrates the urgency of improving sanitation in the country.”
The report shows that sanitation and hygiene improvements will reduce premature deaths and related morbidity, eliminate domestic water-related costs, reduce absenteeism at schools and workplaces, and improve welfare and productivity, and estimates a potential gain of about Tk 16,000 crore.
The report, based on evidence, includes costs associated with death and disease, accessing and treating water, and losses in education, productivity and time. The findings are based on 2007 figures, but a similar magnitude of losses is likely in later years.