Economic Effects of Sustainable Sanitation - SuSanA

2 Sanitation: facts and interrelationships
Sanitation: facts and interrelationships
Sanitation correlates with a whole series of issues especially people in developing countries
are affected by. The first chapter (2.1) deals with sanitation and slums and draws a picture of
their physical structure, global distribution and trends. The second chapter (2.2) gives an
overview of the global situation regarding undernourishment. Additionally, its effects and the
causes with a special focus on soil depletion are considered and conventional and alternative
counter measures against soil depletion as one underlying cause of undernourishment are
compared. Chapter 2.3 gives insights about public health and sanitation. Therefore it ranks
different diseases, among them infectious diarrhoea according to their global impact and
illustrates their transmission pathways, if applicable. Finally, chapter 2.4 presents the global
sanitation situation and classifies the commonly applied sanitation systems according to their
quality, costs and health benefits.
2.1 Slums
Describing slums or slum settlements, also known as squatter- or informal settlements by
using adjectives such as ―squalid, overcrowded and wretched‖ is a relatively simple task,
considering their apparent physical, spatial and social features (UNHABITAT, 2003a, p.
XXIX). However, defining them is much more sophisticated as the settlements can consist of
simple shacks made from waste materials like pieces of corrugated iron sheets, wood and
plastic sheets but also more permanent housing structures constructed of bricks and concrete.
Even though the appearance might be diverse, all slums combine the following
characteristics 7 to various extents (cf. UNHABITAT, 2003a, p. 12):
inadequate access to safe water
inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure
poor structural quality of housing
overcrowding
insecure residential status
In the year 2003 The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 referred
to as ―the first global assessment of slums, emphasising their problems and prospects‖ was
published and stated that slums are home to about one billion people 8 (UNHABITAT, 2003a,
p. V). According to that, one out of three urban dwellers lives in a slum on a global average
(cf. UNHABITAT, 2003a, p. XXV). This amount increases by exclusively focusing on
7 An UN Expert Group uses the listed characteristics to formulate an operational definition for slums.
8 Despite seeming to be out-dated, comparing the number cited in „Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 –
The Challenge of Slums― (UNHABITAT, 2003a, p. XXV) with the recently published number in the „Global
Report on Human Settlements 2009 – Planning Sustainable Cities― (UNHABITAT, 2009, p. 13) does not reveal
a difference.
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