The project's initial launch coincided with the UN-declared International Year of Sanitation in 2008, an effort to solve the sanitation crisis and achieve the Millennium Development Goal on environmental sustainability, which entails halving the number of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015.
The UN General Assembly has designated 2008 the International Year of Sanitation, and Global Handwashing Day echoes and reinforces its call for improved hygiene practices.
Failure post-2002 to mobilize the necessary political will led to the UN declaration of 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation, in an effort to galvanize effort and resources behind the MDG.
This, in case you hadn't noticed, is the international year of sanitation is responsible for 10% of the global disease burden and may well be the biggest killer of children.
The International year of Sanitation 2008 aims to raise the profile of sanitation issues on the international agenda and to accelerate progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal target of reducing by half the proportion of people living without access to improved sanitation by 2015.
At the Regional Launch of the International Year of Sanitation 2008, His Royal Highness Prince Willem Alexander of The Netherlands, Chairperson of the United Nations Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, stressed that "access to basic sanitation and water supply, and the practice of hygienic behaviors, are all necessary for the health and well being of the population and are necessary for people to live in dignity and safety.
At the Regional Launch of the International Year of Sanitation 2008, His Royal Highness Prince Willem Alexander of The Netherlands, Chairperson of the United Nations Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, stressed that "access to basic sanitation and water supply, and the practice of hygienic behaviors, are all necessary for the health and well being of the population and are necessary for people to live in dignity and safety.
