WHO says poor hygiene costs hundreds of thousands of lives

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2007

SEOUL (AFP) — A senior UN health official said Thursday that better sanitation and hygiene could save hundreds of thousands of children's lives a year at a cost equal to what Europe spends annually on ice cream.

Shigeru Omi, World Health Organisation director for the Western Pacific, said 1.8 million worldwide die every year from diarrhoeal diseases mainly attributable to unsafe water supplies, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

"The majority of these deaths occur in Asia, with 90 percent of them children under five years of age. In fact, diarrhoea is the second leading cause of childhood death in developing countries," he said.

He was speaking at the launch of the World Toilet Association, a South Korea-based non-governmental organisation aimed at...