Join the Drive to Sanitation

Click to see the Sanitation Drive to 2015 website. Photo courtesy of the United Nations (New York)-Water.

The Drive to 2015 website is part of the United Nations (UN; New York)-Water campaign to meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goals of reducing the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, according to a UN-Water news release.

The campaign’s website includes information on the problem of inadequate sanitation, benefits from improved sanitation, ideas on organizing events and activities to generate media attention and disseminate the message, stories about individuals driving sanitation efforts, bulletins on upcoming sanitation events and related news, and resources to learn about and share the message of sanitation.

The website calls for the end of open defecation — still practiced by 1.1 billion people around the world and a major reason that many people, especially children, remain vulnerable to preventable diseases. The UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson speaks about the need to “break taboos” and incorporate open defecation in political discussions. Eliasson also asks for renewed efforts to drive progress on sanitation and water goals beyond 2015, the website says.

In December 2010, a UN General Assembly Resolution established the Drive to 2015 Campaign. This effort aims to increase awareness about the importance of sustainable sanitation for everyone, advocates for equity-based approach focusing on the poorest and most marginalized populations, keeps sanitation at the center of development discussions at all levels, and promotes informed decision-making about related programs, according to the website.

— Jennifer Fulcher, WEF Highlights