African countries keen to replicate India's sanitation technologies

New Delhi, Nov 13 (UNI) Greatly impressed by India's sanitation technologies, experts from African countries have landed here to get a first hand experience and replicate it in their countries as part of meeting a major objective of the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs).

The 24 professionals from ten African countries -- Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia and Cote d'Ivorie -- are attending an international workshop on 'Sanitation Technologies', which began here today.

The 13-day workshop, a global initiative to promote clean living and good health, has been jointly organised by the Nairobi-based UN-HABITAT and Sulabh International Academy of Environmental Sanitation.

The first such workshop was organised last year wherein 23 professionals from five African countries -- Ethiopia, Uganda, Mozambique, Cameroon and Burkina Faso -- had participated.

Inaugurating the workshop, Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said sanitation technologies had been developed which were ''economically affordable and culturally acceptable to the people to scale up the sanitation coverage''.

Mr Singh said this capacity-building programme would enable the participant countries to exchange ideas on sanitation and discuss sanitation technologies which could be replicated in their countries with local modifications.

''Such an initiative will go a long way in achieving the Millennium Goals for sustainable development in water, sanitation and hygiene by 2015,'' he added.

After skill training under the aegis of Sulabh International, the participants will take up implementation of the sanitation projects in their own countries under the Indian NGO's technical and administrative supervision. These projects are scheduled to be completed by early 2008.

Citing UN statistics, the minister said around 2.6 billion people in the world have either no organised system of sanitation or have acess only to a noxious and unhygienic facility.

''Globally, 2.2 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases associated with contaminated water supply, sanitation and hygiene. Most of them are children under the age of five. Basic sanitation facilities reduce the diseases by up to 77 per cent,'' he pointed out.

At the Johannesburh Earth Summit, 2002, it was agreed to halve, by the year 2015, the number of people who do not have access to basic sanitation.

Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak said his NGO had been training African professionals in the water and sanitation sectors since 2005.

''Creating awareness on the link between disease and poor hygiene behaviour is the key to developing a perceived need for safe sanitation,'' he said.

Mr Eric Moukoro, UN-HABITAT (Senegal), said such a workshop was a step towards strengthening and promotiong South-South co-operation for sharing experiences and exchanges on appropriate technological options.

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