Source - Asia and Pacific
India: Bollywood actress becomes national sanitation brand ambassador
22 May 12
Vidya Balan, who received the Best Actress National Film Award for her role in 2011 Bollywood hit 'The Dirty Picture', will now play a role to alter the real dirty picture in India. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has named the Bollywood actress as the brand ambassador in his campaign for improving sanitation.
China: US$ 27 billion for safe water for all rural areas by 2015
22 May 12
Everyone in rural areas will have access to safe drinking sources by 2015, reaffirmed China’s minister of water resources Chen Lei. He was speaking on 25 April 2012 at a bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. At …
Tuvalu: composting toilets help conserve water and boost livelihoods in Pacific islands
07 May 12
A new film shows how composting toilets are helping to address the serious water issues facing Tuvalu. The tiny Pacific island nation of just 10,500 inhabitants recently experienced a devastating drought. Septic tank systems are polluting the groundwater and destroying …
India census: more people have a mobile phone than a household toilet
28 Mar 12
Nearly half of India’s 1.2 billion people have no toilet at home, but more people own a mobile phone, according to the country’s latest census data. Only 46.9% of the 246.6 million households have toilets while 49.8% defecate in the open. The remaining 3.2% use public toilets.
India, Delhi: how sexual violence against women is linked to water and sanitation
27 Mar 12
Girls under ten have been raped while on their way to use a public toilet, say women living in Delhi’s slums. In one slum, boys hid in toilet cubicles at night waiting to rape those who entered. These are some of the incidents mentioned in a recent briefing note based on research supported by WaterAid and the DFID-funded SHARE (Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity) project.
Asia: leadership for sanitation needed at both central and local level
26 Jan 12
The responsibility for sanitation in Asia is fragmented over different agencies, and in most cases the priority given to sanitation is low. Therefore more leadership and political will is needed to make sure that organisational structures function, that plans with …
Bangladesh: WaterAid gets Swiss and Swedish grants for WASH projects
27 Dec 11
WaterAid has signed funding agreements with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) for two WASH projects in Bangladesh.
Asia: Accelerated and sustainable progress in sanitation and hygiene is within our reach
20 Sep 11
Accelerated and sustainable progress in sanitation and hygiene is within reach in Asia, as long as we aim at district-wide coverage and build a broad alliance under leadership of local governments. This is the main conclusion of sanitation and hygiene experts from five countries (Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia) participating in a workshop on governance on water, sanitation and hygiene organized by the Nepal government together with SNV Netherlands development organization and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre from 13 to 17 September 2011.
India, Kerala: “Green Army” school hygiene cartoons
12 Aug 11
An Indian e-toilet manufacturer has partnered with a local animation institute to create hygiene promotion cartoons for schools. Eram Scientific Solutions with Toonz Academy has created the “Green Army” cartoon characters to make students aware of cleanliness and hygiene.
Fiji: US bottled water exporter finally pays up
15 Jul 11
A US bottled water exporter that had enjoyed a de facto tax free status in the Pacific island nation of Fiji since 1995, has finally been forced to pay up. Once dubbed as “bottled insanity” by environmentalists, FIJI Water has been linked to tax evasion, political intrigue, and greenwashing.
