ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: The Asian Development Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have created a new ‘Sanitation Financing Trust Fund’ to expand and speed up access to safe sanitation in countries in Asia and Pacific region.

The partnership trust fund announced during the ongoing World Water Week will entail an investment of $15 million from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to leverage more than $28m in investments from the ADB by 2017 to improve sanitation practices across Asia.

At present, around 1.7 billion people in Asia and the Pacific have no access to safe sanitation, and about 780m still practice open defecation, resulting in pollution and exposure to diarrhoeal diseases, the second leading cause of infant and child deaths worldwide.

Sanitation problems are becoming increasingly acute in urban areas, with tens of millions moving into Asian cities every year.

Many end up living in slums with little or no sanitation facilities. The region needs investment estimated at $71bn to deliver improved sanitation to all its citizens.

The fund will be part of the ADB’s Water Financing Partnership Facility (WFPF), an instrument which pools finance and knowledge from development partners to support improvements in the sector.