“Until everyone has access to adequate sanitation facilities, the quality of water supplies will be undermined and too many people will continue to die from waterborne and water-related diseases,” said Dr Maria Neira, Director of the WHO Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.
Access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene is critical in the prevention and care of 16 of the 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), including trachoma, soil-transmitted helminths (intestinal worms) and schistosomiasis.
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“被忽视的热带病”影响了149个国家的超过15亿人，导致失明、毁容、永久性残疾和死亡。
NTDs affect more than 1.5 billion people in 149 countries, causing blindness, disfigurement, permanent disability and death.
The practice of open defecation is also linked to a higher risk of stunting – or chronic malnutrition – which affects 161 million children worldwide, leaving them with irreversible physical and cognitive damage.
“To benefit human health it is vital to further accelerate progress on sanitation, particularly in rural and underserved areas,” added Dr Neira.
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每十个没有用上改善的环境卫生设施的人中，七个生活在农村；
Rural areas are home to 7 out of 10 people without access and 9 out of 10 people who defecate in the open.
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联合国大会将在2015年9月制定新的可持续发展目标，这其中包括计划在2030年前消除随地排便现象。
Plans for the new Sustainable Development Goals to be set by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 include a target to eliminate open defecation by 2030.
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世卫组织和联合国儿童基金会指出，目前的削减率需要翻倍，尤其是在南亚和撒哈拉以南非洲地区。
This would require a doubling of current rates of reduction, especially in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, WHO and UNICEF say.
WHO and UNICEF say it is vitally important to learn from the uneven progress of the 1990-2015 period to ensure that the SDGs close the inequality gaps and achieve universal access to water and sanitation.