Some 2.4 billion people, one-third of the world’s population, will remain without access to improved sanitation in 2015, according to a joint World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report.

The report entitled: “Progress on Sanitation and Drinking-Water 2013 Update”, was released in Accra by Ms Nada Osseiran, WHO Communication Officer in Geneva.

It said the current rate of progress, the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of the 1990 population without sanitation, would be missed by eight per cent – or half a billion people.

The report again stated that while UNICEF and WHO announced last year that the goal of drinking water had been met and surpassed by 2010, the challenge to improve sanitation and reach those in need had led to a consolidated call for action to accelerate progress.

It echoed the urgent call to action by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, for the world community to combine efforts and end open defecation by 2025.

With less than three years to reach the MDG deadline, the WHO and UNICEF report has called for a final push to meet the sanitation target.

The report noted that almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of the world’s population had access to improved sanitation facilities, an increase of almost 1.9 billion people since 1990.

Approximately, it said about 2.5 billion people lacked access to an improved sanitation facility; of these, 761 million use public or shared sanitation facilities and 693 million use facilities that do not meet minimum standards of hygiene.

It noted that in 2011, one billion people still defecated in the open; declaring that 90 per cent of all open defecation takes place in rural areas.

The report added that, by the end of 2011, 89 per cent of the world population used an improved drinking-water source, and 55 per cent had a piped supply on premises; this left an estimated 768 million people without improved sources for drinking water, of which 185 million relied on surface water for their daily needs.

It said a striking disparity still existed between those living in rural areas and those who live in cities; with urban dwellers making up three-quarters of those with access to piped water supplies at home.

“Rural communities comprise 83 per cent of the global population without access to improved drinking water source and 71 per cent of those living without sanitation; adding that faster progress on sanitation is possible,” it stated.

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation is the official United Nations mechanism tasked with monitoring global progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) relating to access to drinking water and sanitation.

The JMP data helps draw connections between access to clean water and private sanitation facility and quality of life.