Flagging global sanitation target threatens other Millennium Development Goals

Bulletin of the World Health Organization, March, 2004 by Sarah Jane Marshall

The global target of halving the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015 is currently out of reach for many countries, said Borge Brende, Chair of the 12th Session of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development (UNCSD), in a special interview with the Bulletin. The Commission is to meet in New York on 14-30 April 2004 to review progress on achieving the Millennium Development Goals relating to water, sanitation and human settlements.

"There are major differences in how much progress has been made, both across [the water and sanitation-related] goals and across countries. The least progress has been made on sanitation," said Brende. "This affects not only other health-related goals but also some non-health-related goals such as poverty...