PESHAWAR, March 27: The government has devised the first-ever sanitation policy to ensure access of the entire population of the province to a safe sanitary environment.

“Draft of the first-ever sanitation policy along with an implementation strategy has been prepared and it will be materialised following the approval of next provincial government,” NWFP Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD) Secretary, Dr Hamaad Owais Agha, said while formally launching International Year of Sanitation (IYS) here on Thursday.

The United Nations General Assembly had declared 2008 as IYS in recognition of the important of sanitation to the overall achievement of the Millennium Goals (MDGs). IYS is about advocacy and creating awareness, which are being made through an action plan focusing on activities both within and outside the UN-system to advance the implementation of sanitation related decisions.

LG&RDD secretary said that government, donors, NGOs and citizens had spent huge resources on sanitation. But, unfortunately sanitation and hygiene coverage was still very low and the sanitary living conditions were not commensurate with the funds utilised, he maintained.

He informed the audience that LG&RDD had outlined a draft of sanitation policy, whose main objective was a safe sanitary environment for all. He said it could only be ensured if the indiscriminate and unhygienic disposal of excreta, solid waste and wastewater was completely eradicated.

Mr Agha was of the view that effective prevention could help reduce the quantum of resources usually spent on the health both by the government and private sector. For the purpose, he said, education and health departments would be taken on board while implementing sanitation policy.

Under the sanitation strategy, he maintained, that media campaigns would be undertaken aimed at highlighting sanitation related messages. Also competitions at school level and awards for community-led sanitation programmes were part of the future planning of the government.

Irshad Karim, UNICEF Provincial Officer, said that main objectives of IYS were keeping world on track to achieve the sanitation MDG, recognition of the impact of sanitation on public health, poverty reduction, economic and social development, mobilising governments and encouraging demand driven sustainable and traditional solutions.