Prevents diseases and promotes human dignity and well-being
According to the World Health Organization, environmental sanitation is “that discipline that includes aspects of human health, including quality of life, which are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social and psychosocial environmental factors”.
This contributes to an improvement in living conditions, alleviates poverty, hunger and malnutrition, safeguarding people’s health, reducing infant mortality, avoiding risks of disease, promoting equality between genders; and managing and protecting natural resources.
WATER AND SANITATION
Humanity has the right to sanitation as a key to development, health and the environment, therefore companies around the world are promoting the generation of strategies for better management of water and sanitation services; that strengthen the technical capacity of the countries, creates and disseminates technical guides on water, sanitation and hygiene.
Sanitation prevents diseases and promotes the well-being of society, which is in perfect agreement with the definition of health of the WHO, expressed in its constitution, as “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not simply the absence of disease or disease”.
WHAT IS NEEDED TO ACHIEVE IT?
The challenges posed by climate change require continuous adaptation in order to ensure that sanitation systems protect public health. It is necessary to propose alternatives to situations that affect the environment and public health through simple ideas and appropriate to local circumstances and many organizations in the region are developing it under institutional policies for the internal and external good of the organization.
Raise awareness and promote behavior changes in the community in order to improve environmental conditions and reduce factors that affect their health, promoting the participation of communities in carrying out basic environmental sanitation actions through training and educational communication.
In order to achieve environmental sanitation objectives, it is important to have adequate personnel capable of designing, applying, monitoring, and controlling different sanitary and environmental engineering techniques to meet said goals; such as engineers, doctors, civil builders, architects, veterinarians, inspectors, health workers and environmental educators.
RIGHT TO SANITATION
It is recognized as a specific and independent right by the United Nations General Assembly —before, in 2010, it had been recognized together with the Right to Water—, establishing that “everyone must have physical and economic access to safe sanitation services, hygienic, socially and culturally acceptable and that provide them with sufficient privacy and dignity, in all spheres of life”.
In addition, wastewater treatment is specifically contemplated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set out in the 2030 Agenda: “Achieve access to sanitation and hygiene services and put an end to open defecation and improve the quality of the water, wastewater treatment and safe reuse»
IN COLOMBIA
Government entities to protect the population on the proper use of natural resources, increased Decree 673 of 2019, which establishes that the general well-being and improvement of the quality of life of the population are social purposes of the State and will be a fundamental objective. of its activity the solution of the unsatisfied needs of health, education, environmental sanitation and drinking water.
It established the program for the efficient use and saving of water, and defined it in article 1 as the set of projects and actions that must be prepared and adopted by the entities in charge of providing aqueduct, sewerage, irrigation and drainage, production hydroelectric and other users of water resources.
Environmental sanitation activities.
- Provision and control of water: drinking, rain, surface and sea.
- Plants for the management and treatment of wastewater, domestic: network, sewerage.
- Solid waste management: sweeping, collection, transport and final disposal.
- Air pollution control.
- Soil contamination control.
- Control of biological vectors.
- Sanitary control of homes
- Food sanitary control.