English Quiz for Bank Exams 2015 – Set 21 – Reading Comprehension

Sanitation promotes health
through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes
as well as the treatment and disposal of sewage waste water. These hazards can be physical,
microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can
cause health problems include human and solid wastes, domestic wastewater,
industrial wastes and agricultural wastes. Hygienic means of prevention can be
by using engineering solutions, simple technologies e.g. septic tanks, or even
by personal hygiene practices e.g. simple hand washing with soap. In fact, it
is essential for children to survive, grow and develop into healthy and fulfilled
citizens of the world. In the broader context, UNICEF’s activities in Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) contribute to the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals. UNICEF’s long standing support for improving water supply, sanitation
and hygiene stems from a firm conviction
and based on sound evidence that these are central to ensuring the rights of
children.

Apart from these adequate,
well-maintained water supply and sanitation facilities in schools encourage
children to attend school regularly and help them achieve their educational
goals. Inadequate water supply and sanitation in schools are health hazards and
affect school attendance, retention and educational performance. Adolescent
girls are especially vulnerable to
dropping out, as many are reluctant to continue their schooling because toilet
facilities are not safe and somewhere are not available. In rural area women
and girls face a loss of personal dignity and safety risk if there is no toilet
at home. Some other important factors which cannot be ignored- water supply and
sanitation in our country continue to be inadequate, despite longstanding
efforts by the various levels of government and communities at improving
coverage.

The level of investment in water
and sanitation, albeit low by
international standards, has increased during the 2000s. Access has also increased significantly. The share of Indians with
access to improved sources of water has increased significantly, while local
government institutions faced lack of the financial resources to carry out
their functions. Thus the lack of adequate sanitation and safe water has
significant negative health impacts including diarrhoea. Another factor is
dependency of people on on-site sanitation facilities. Recently, access to
on-site sanitation has increased in both rural and urban areas. In rural areas,
total sanitation has been successful .In urban areas; a good practice is the
Slum Sanitation Program in Mumbai that has provided access to sanitation for a
quarter million slum dwellers. In Delhi the sewerage network has lacked
maintenance over the years. 2.5 Billion People in the world that defecate
openly, some 665 million live in India.

This is of greater concern as 88%
of deaths from diarrhea occur because of unsafe water, inadequate sanitation
and poor hygiene. Therefore we can say that Lack of access to adequate
sanitation is a huge problem in India. According to UNICEF, about 50% of the
country’s population (approximately 638 million people) resort to open
defecation. Not only is this a serious health hazard, diarrhea caused by lack
of sanitation is a leading cause of death, but there are other problems as
well. For example, the dropout rates of girls in schools are directly related
to the unavailability of toilets. Therefore, improving sanitation will also
improve the living and economic conditions of the rural poor.