2008 is the International Year of Sanitation. Accordingly, this report by the  WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) has sanitation as its focus.<p>
The importance of sanitation is indisputable. It is a crucial stepping stone to better health: sanitation offers us the opportunity to save the lives of 1.5 million children a year who would otherwise succumb to diarrhoeal diseases, and to protect the health of many more. It is fundamental to gender equity as it protects women’s dignity. And it is key to economic development: investments in sanitation protect investments made in other sectors, such as education and health, and bring measurable economic returns.<p>
However, the data in this report show that the world is not on track to meet the MDG sanitation target, and 2.5 billion people still lack access to improved sanitation, including 1.2 billion who have no facilities at all. The message is clear: We need to greatly accelerate progress in sanitation, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. The number of people who still do not have access to improved sanitation is staggering, and we know that the disease, loss of earnings and indignity lock huge numbers of people into poverty.