UN agencies say 170 million fewer people defecating in the open compared with 1990
By APMonday, March 15, 2010
UN agencies say open defecation on the decline
GENEVA — Almost 170 million people have moved from the outdoors to at least the outhouse to defecate in what the United Nations is calling a major advance in global sanitation over the last two decades.
The U.N. health and children’s agencies say open defecation is the riskiest sanitation practice.
Nearly a quarter of the world practiced it in 1990, but that figure has dropped to 17 percent. They say rates remain high in India.
Open defecation can lead to deadly diarrhea, worms that enter food sources and the spread of lethal diseases such as cholera and polio.
The agencies said Monday that 2.6 billion people are still without decent sanitation.
But the situation is better with safe drinking water, which 87 percent of the world now enjoys.
(This version CORRECTS to Monday sted Tuesday.)
