Sanitation and hygiene-related interventions could mitigate 52 per cent of economic impacts which amounts to 2.05 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This was stated by Country Coordinator, Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) World Bank, Fahim Sami. “The main cause of this loss is the open defection in the country which has spread the diseases in the country and it is decreasing by 1.3 per cent every year but not satisfactory and it would take years to be eliminated from the country, if it goes at this speed, he said. Moreover, the population is also increasing by 2.9 per cent every year and about 1.2 million people are being added for this need. “If we succeed in eliminating open defection, it would be helping us in achieving Millennium development goals and also helps us in the growth of GDP,” he added. The interventions that could be carried out to mitigate economic losses due to poor sanitation will not only reduce the sanitation related losses but may also provide improvements in non-sanitation areas such as water supply, Sami said. Country Coordinator said that improved access to adequate quantity and improved quality of water could mitigate 30 per cent and 36 per cent of economic losses respectively.
