United Nations Millennium Development Goal Essay examples -- World Is

Target C of the seventh United Nations Millennium Development Goal is to ‘halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation’ (UN, 2000). With the present model of sanitation, the flush toilet, it is not viable to provide basic sanitation for everyone, as flush toilets are grossly inefficient in developing countries. They require large amounts of water and sewage infrastructure to function, two things increasingly difficult to possess in developing countries (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2011). This lack of basic sanitation leads to defecation and urination in unsafe locations, such as streams and rivers, which contaminate the water supply. The unsafe urination and defecation increases the incidence of fecal-oral contamination and occurrence of other communicable diseases. It also forces the poor villagers to walk farther in search of uncontaminated water sources. However, interventions and the redevelopment of the sanitation system can bring numerous positive changes to developing countries, where present knowledge and development of sanitation is poor. Optimum benefit from sanitation interventions can be achieved if the communities are made aware of the connection between hygiene practices, poor sanitation, polluted water, and disease (UNHRC, 2011). The redevelopment of the sanitation system is essential for developing countries; however, the global community must overcome deep-seated challenges to guarantee enduring success. The redevelopment of the sanitation system, particularly the reinvention of the toilet is an efficient and significant way of improving health, hygiene, and women’s education and personal safety. Currently, 40% of the world’s popul... ... problem of implementation by spending more money on education and actual procurement of the reinvented toilets rather than the administration. It is great to take the increased education of the developing country to our advantage by using the school children to spread the message about sanitation to their families and deep into their communities. School Environment and Sanitation and Rural India states that â€Å" The best way to break bad practices is to cultivate good practices and childhood is the best time for that as children are receptive to all influences† (Majra and Gur, 2010). From these two suggestions for implementation, it seems very logical that the global community should focus on providing access to proper sanitation facilities at schools and on providing water, hygiene, and environment education at primary schools to spread further the reinvented toilet.