The World Health Organization - Sanitation Definition

Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes as well as the treatment and proper disposal of sewage wastewater. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease.

The World Health Organization states that:

"Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and feces. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease world-wide and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on health both in households and across communities.

The word 'sanitation' also refers to the maintenance of hygienic conditions, through services such as garbage collection and wastewater disposal The term sanitation is applied to a wide range of subjects such as:

Improved sanitation – refers to the management of human feces at the household level. This terminology is the indicator used to describe the target of the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation, by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation.

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On-site sanitation – the collection and treatment of waste is done where it is deposited. Examples are the use of pit latrines, septic tanks, and Imhoff tanks

Food sanitation – refers to the hygienic measures for ensuring food safety

Environmental sanitation – the control of environmental factors that form links in disease transmission. Subsets of this category are solid waste management, water and wastewater treatment, industrial waste treatment and noise and pollution control.

Ecological sanitation – an approach that tries to emulate nature through the recycling of nutrients and water from human and animal wastes in a hygienically safe manner.

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History

The earliest evidence of urban sanitation was seen in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, and the recently discovered Rakhigarhi of Indus Valley civilization. This urban plan included the world's first urban sanitation systems. Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells. From a room that appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets.

Unsanitary conditions and overcrowding were widespread throughout Europe and Asia during the Middle Ages, resulting periodically in cataclysmic pandemics such as the Plague of Justinian (541-42) and the Black Death (1347–1351), which killed tens of millions of people and radically altered societies. Very high infant and child mortality prevailed in Europe throughout medieval times, due not only to deficiencies in sanitation but to an insufficient food supply for a population which had expanded faster than agriculture.

Sanitation is an essential part of the MDGs. The most affected countries are in the developing world Wastewater collection
The standard sanitation technology in urban areas is the collection of wastewater in sewers, its treatment in wastewater treatment plants for reuse or disposal in rivers, lakes or the sea.

Health effects

For any social and economic development, adequate sanitation in conjunction with good hygiene and safe water are essential to good health ,Lack of proper sanitation causes diseases. Most of the diseases resulting from sanitation have a direct relation to poverty. The lack of clean water and poor sanitation has caused many diseases and the spread of diseases. Sanitation is very important in order to keep good health. One of the most significant diseases that arise from poor sanitation is diarrhea. Deaths resulting from diarrhea are estimated to be between 1.6 and 2.5 million deaths every year . Most of the affected are young children below the ages of five. Other diseases that are caused by poor sanitation include schistosomiasis, trachoma, and soil-transmitted Helminthiases.

Poor sanitation accounts for almost 50 percent of underweight child since it has a direct link to diarrhea. Children suffering for diarrhea are more vulnerable to become underweight. About 26 percent acute respiratory infections occur in children who are malnourished, which has a direct link to diarrhea. Sanitation is a serious issue that is affecting most parts of the world especially the developing countries. On a global scale, the most affected are children who in most cases lose their lives due to diseases caused by poor sanitation. Major initiatives need to be set up if the MDG goal on sanitation is to be achieved by 2015.

It is estimated that up to 5 million people die each year from preventable waterborne diseases,

Ecological sanitation

Ecological sanitation is sometimes presented as a radical alternative to conventional sanitation systems. Ecological sanitation is based on composting or vermicomposting toilets where an extra separation of urine and feces at the source for sanitization and recycling has been done. It thus eliminates the creation of blackwater and eliminates fecal pathogens. If ecological sanitation is practiced municipal wastewater consists only of greywater, which can be recycled for gardening. However, in most cases greywater continues to be discharged to sewers.

Global access to improved sanitation

The Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF has defined improved sanitation as follows:

  • Flush toilet
  • Connection to a piped sewer system
  • Connection to a septic system
  • Flush / pour-flush to a pit latrine
  • Ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrine
  • Pit latrine with slab
  • Composting toilet

In 2011 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge to promote safer, more effective ways to treat human waste. The program is aimed at developing technologies that might help bridge the global sanitation gap.

Solid waste disposal

Disposal of solid waste is most commonly conducted in landfills, but incineration, recycling, composting and conversion to biofuels are also avenues. In the case of landfills, advanced countries typically have rigid protocols for daily cover with topsoil, where underdeveloped countries customarily rely upon less stringent protocols.[24] The importance of daily cover lies in the reduction of vector contact and spreading of pathogens. Daily cover also minimises odor emissions and reduces windblown litter. Likewise, developed countries typically have requirements for perimeter sealing of the landfill with clay-type soils to minimize migration of leachate that could contaminate groundwater (and hence jeopardize some drinking water supplies).

For incineration options, the release of air pollutants, including certain toxic components is an attendant adverse outcome. Recycling and biofuel conversion are the sustainable options that generally have superior lifecycle costs, particularly when total ecological consequences are considered.[25] Composting value will ultimately be limited by the market demand for compost product.

In the food and biopharmaceutical industries, the term "sanitary equipment" means equipment that is fully cleanable using cleanin- place (CIP) and sterilization-in-place (SIP) procedures: that is fully drainable from cleaning solutions and other liquids. The design should have a minimum amount of deadleg, or areas where the turbulence during cleaning is insufficient to remove product deposits.[27] In general, to improve cleanability, this equipment is made from Stainless Steel 316L, (an alloy containing small amounts of molybdenum). The surface is usually electropolished to an effective surface roughness of less than 0.5 micrometre to reduce the possibility of bacterial adhesion.

“Cleanliness is next to godliness” Gandhiji

Cleanliness implies being clean and free from dirt, and maintaining the same. Cleanliness is thus related to hygiene and disease prevention both for the body and for the society. Cleanliness starts from each of us. It can be personal cleanliness, Cleanliness while Eating & Food Hygiene, cleanliness of our Room, Home, School, Street or our City. Cleanliness is also very important for good health. A large number of germs keep sticking to our bodies and clothes. It we do not wash them regularly, we can acquire several diseases Hygiene means practices followed regularly at home and in everyday life to remain healthy and avoid diseases. Many diseases are caused if clothes are not washed daily. We should have a bath daily and also brush our teeth and comb our hair regularly. Similarly, we should cut our nails frequently as many germs enter our body through our fingers and toes. We should also protect our feet from dust and put on socks and shoes when we go out.

It is very important that the utensils, in which we take our meals, are kept clean. The drinking water should be clean and preferably filtered. We should also keep our houses and environment clean We should also ensure cleanliness in streets, parks and on the roads. We should throw garbage only in the dustbin and not spread it in streets. Sanitation involves proper disposal and treatment of waste such as sewerage and drainage which is very important for healthy living of all human beings. Industries generate various types of wastes everyday. It is mandatory to have waste management systems to avoid pollution. This way the air, water and our environment can be kept clean Cleanliness is both the abstract state of being clean and free from dirt, and the process of achieving and maintaining that state.

Cleanliness may be endowed with a moral quality, as indicated by the aphorism "cleanliness is next to godliness,"[1] and may be regarded as contributing to other ideals such as health and beauty. In emphasizing an ongoing procedure or set of habits for the purpose of maintenance and prevention, the concept of cleanliness differs from purity, which is a physical, moral, or ritual state of freedom from pollutants. Whereas purity is usually a quality of an individual or substance, cleanliness has a social dimension, or implies a system of interactions.[2] "Cleanliness," observed Jacob Burckhardt, "is indispensable to our modern notion of social perfection."[3] A household or workplace may be said to exhibit cleanliness, but not ordinarily purity; cleanliness also would be a characteristic of the people who maintain cleanness or prevent dirtying.

On a practical level, cleanliness is thus related to hygiene and disease prevention. Washing is one way of achieving physical cleanliness, usually with water and often some kind of soap or detergent. Procedures of cleanliness are of utmost importance in many forms of manufacturing. As an assertion of moral superiority or respectability, cleanliness has played a role in establishing cultural values in relation to social class, humanitarianism, and cultural imperialism.[4]

Hygiene

Since the germ theory of disease, cleanliness has come to mean an effort to remove germs and other hazardous materials. A reaction to an excessive desire for a germ-free environment began to occur around 1989, when David Strachan put forth the "hygiene hypothesis" in the British Medical Journal. In essence, this hypothesis holds that dirt plays a useful role in developing the immune system; the fewer germs people are exposed to in childhood, the more likely they are to get sick as adults. The valuation of cleanliness, therefore, has a social and cultural dimension beyond the requirements of hygiene for practical purposes.

Swachata

Swachta jaruri hai kuynki “ek swach aur swasth tann me hi ek swasth mann rehta hai.” The term "sanitation" is applied to a wide range of subjects such as: * Improved sanitation - refers to the management of human faeces at the household level. This terminology is the indicator used to describe the target of the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation, by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. * On-site sanitation - the collection and treatment of waste is done where it is deposited. Examples are the use of pit latrines, septic tanks, and Imhoff tanks. * Food sanitation - refers to the hygienic measures for ensuring food safety.

Environmental sanitation - the control of environmental factors that form links in disease transmission. Subsets of this category are solid waste management, water and wastewater treatment,industrial waste treatment and noise and pollution control. * Ecological sanitation - an approach that tries to emulate nature through the recycling of nutrients and water from human and animal wastes in a hygienically safe manner. Sanitation can be of three types Personal sanitation

Sanitation at home

Sanitation at surroundings.

“Wash your hands before you eat... give those germs a clean sweep.”

  1. Personal sanitation
    1. Bathing regularly
    2. Washing your hands after using washroom
    3. Washing your hands before having food
    4. Cutting your hairs clean
    5. Cutting your nails & keeping them clean
    6. Drinking clean water,using chlorine tablets or boiling it
  2. Sanitation at home
    1. Keeping your home clean
    2. Keeping washroom at home clean
    3. Using washroom rather than going in open
    4. Eating healthy & nutritious food
    5. Washing fruits before eating
  3. Surroundings
    1. Saniataion at school
    2. Sitting on clean benches
    3. Cleanliness while playing at playgrounds
    4. Dressing/cleaning your wounds
Updated: Jul 06, 2022
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The World Health Organization - Sanitation Definition. (2016, May 12). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/sanitation-definition-essay

The World Health Organization - Sanitation Definition essay
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