Inadequate sanitation causes Bangladesh an economic loss of about $4.22 billion (Tk 30,000 crore) a year, according to a new report published by the Water and Sanitation Programme, a multi-donor partnership led by the World Bank.
The annual loss is equivalent to 6.3 per cent of the country's gross domestic product in 2007, said 'The Economic Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation in Bangladesh' report based on evidence of the adverse economic impacts of inadequate sanitation that included costs associated with deaths and diseases, accessing and treating water, and loss of education, productivity, and time.
The findings of the report are based on 2007 figures, although a similar magnitude of losses is likely in later years, said a WB press release on Wednesday.
The report also shows that the losses incurred due to premature mortality and other health-related impacts of poor sanitation totals around $3.56 billion (Tk 25,000 crore) or about 84.3 per cent of the total economic loss due to inadequate sanitation.
This is followed by the loss of productive time to access sanitation facilities or sites for defecation that stands at $454 million (Tk 3,000 crore) or 10.8 per cent and the loss incurred from the drinking water-related impacts that accounts for $207 million (Tk 1,500 crore) or 4.9 per cent of the total economic adverse impacts.
Ninety-five per cent of the premature mortality-related economic losses are due to deaths and diseases among children under five. Diarrhoea among these children accounts for $1.46 billion (Tk 10,000 crore) or 40.9 per cent of all health-related adverse economic impacts, the press release said.
In Bangladesh, diarrhoea is the largest contributor to health-related negative economic impacts resulting from poor sanitation, amounting to two-thirds of the total health-related adverse impacts. This is followed by acute lower respiratory tracts infections, which account for about 15 per cent of all health-related adverse impacts.
Poor households, which are the biggest victims of inadequate sanitation, experience about 71 per cent of the total economic adverse impacts of inadequate sanitation, the release added.
The amount of the losses caused by poor sanitation exceed Bangladesh's national development budget for 2007-2008 by 33 per cent.
'The total amount of these losses is five times higher than the national health budget, and three times higher than the national education budget,' said World Bank Bangladesh country director Ellen Goldstein.
'Similar studies carried out in East Asia and India indicated annual per capita losses in the range of $9.3 in Vietnam, $16.8 in the Philippines, $28.6 in Indonesia, $32.4 in Cambodia, and $48 in India,' said Water and Sanitation Programme South Asia regional team leader Christopher Juan Costain.
'Bangladesh lost $29.6 per capita, which demonstrates the urgency of improving sanitation in the country,' he added.
