Gambia, The | People using safely managed sanitation services (% of population)
The percentage of people using improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households and where excreta are safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated offsite. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines: ventilated improved pit latrines, compositing toilets or pit latrines with slabs. Development relevance: Sanitation is fundamental to human development. Many international organizations use hygienic sanitation facilities as a measure for progress in the fight against poverty, disease, and death. Access to proper sanitation is also considered to be a human right, not a privilege, for every man, woman, and child. Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and feces. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease world-wide and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on people's health. Basic and safely managed sanitation services can reduce diarrheal disease, and can significantly lessen the adverse health impacts of other disorders responsible for death and disease among millions of children. Diarrhea and worm infections weaken children and make them more susceptible to malnutrition and opportunistic infections like pneumonia, measles and malaria. The combined effects of inadequate sanitation, unsafe water supply and poor personal hygiene are responsible for many of childhood deaths. Every year, the failure to tackle these deficits results in severe welfare losses - wasted time, reduced productivity, ill health, impaired learning, environmental degradation and lost opportunities. Fundamental behavior changes are required before the use of improved facilities and services can be integrated into daily life. Many hygiene behaviors and habits are formed in childhood and, therefore, school health and hygiene education programs are an important part of water and sanitation improvements. Most basic sanitation technologies are not expensive to implement. However, those facing the problems of inadequate sanitation may not be aware of either the origin of their ills, or the true costs of poor sanitation and hygiene. As a result, in most of the developing countries those without sanitation are hard to convince of the need to invest scarce resources in sanitation facilities, or of the critical importance of changing long-held habits and unhygienic behaviors. Consequently, the people's representatives - governments and elected political leaders - rarely give sanitation or hygiene improvements the priority that is needed in order to tackle the massive sanitation deficit faced by the developing world. Children bear the brunt of sanitation-related impacts - their health, nutrition, growth, education, self-respect, and life opportunities suffer as a result of inadequate sanitation. Without improved sanitation, many of the current generation of children in developing countries are unlikely to develop to their full potential. Countries that don't take urgent action to redress sanitation deficiencies will find their future development and prosperity impaired. Limitations and exceptions: There are three main ways to meet the criteria for having a safely managed sanitation service (People should use improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households, and the excreta produced should either be: treated and disposed of in situ; stored temporality and then emptied, transported and treated off-site, or transported through a sewer with wastewater and then treated off-site). Many countries lack information on either wastewater treatment or the management of on-site sanitation. A national estimate is produced if information is available for the dominant type of sanitation system. If no information is available, it is assumed that 50 percent is safely managed. Regional and income group estimates are made when data are available for at least 30 percent of the population. Statistical concept and methodology: Data on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are produced by the Joint Monitoring Programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) based on administrative sources, national censuses and nationally representative household surveys. WHO/UNICEF defines safely managed sanitation facilities as improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households and where excreta are safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated offsite. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines: ventilated improved pit latrines, compositing toilets or pit latrines with slabs.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Republic of the Gambia
Records
63
Source
Gambia, The | People using safely managed sanitation services (% of population)
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1963
1964
1965
1966
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1970
1971
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1980
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1984
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1987
1988
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1990
1991
1992
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43.24257143 2000
42.03636716 2001
40.85318544 2002
39.73582854 2003
38.6702261 2004
38.07739256 2005
37.48987247 2006
36.90669656 2007
36.32675052 2008
35.74966268 2009
35.1739575 2010
34.5988711 2011
34.02318945 2012
33.44625874 2013
32.86691207 2014
32.28393099 2015
31.69605338 2016
31.10193677 2017
30.50027676 2018
29.88976609 2019
29.26912645 2020
28.63398761 2021
27.98605759 2022
Gambia, The | People using safely managed sanitation services (% of population)
The percentage of people using improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households and where excreta are safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated offsite. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines: ventilated improved pit latrines, compositing toilets or pit latrines with slabs. Development relevance: Sanitation is fundamental to human development. Many international organizations use hygienic sanitation facilities as a measure for progress in the fight against poverty, disease, and death. Access to proper sanitation is also considered to be a human right, not a privilege, for every man, woman, and child. Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and feces. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease world-wide and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on people's health. Basic and safely managed sanitation services can reduce diarrheal disease, and can significantly lessen the adverse health impacts of other disorders responsible for death and disease among millions of children. Diarrhea and worm infections weaken children and make them more susceptible to malnutrition and opportunistic infections like pneumonia, measles and malaria. The combined effects of inadequate sanitation, unsafe water supply and poor personal hygiene are responsible for many of childhood deaths. Every year, the failure to tackle these deficits results in severe welfare losses - wasted time, reduced productivity, ill health, impaired learning, environmental degradation and lost opportunities. Fundamental behavior changes are required before the use of improved facilities and services can be integrated into daily life. Many hygiene behaviors and habits are formed in childhood and, therefore, school health and hygiene education programs are an important part of water and sanitation improvements. Most basic sanitation technologies are not expensive to implement. However, those facing the problems of inadequate sanitation may not be aware of either the origin of their ills, or the true costs of poor sanitation and hygiene. As a result, in most of the developing countries those without sanitation are hard to convince of the need to invest scarce resources in sanitation facilities, or of the critical importance of changing long-held habits and unhygienic behaviors. Consequently, the people's representatives - governments and elected political leaders - rarely give sanitation or hygiene improvements the priority that is needed in order to tackle the massive sanitation deficit faced by the developing world. Children bear the brunt of sanitation-related impacts - their health, nutrition, growth, education, self-respect, and life opportunities suffer as a result of inadequate sanitation. Without improved sanitation, many of the current generation of children in developing countries are unlikely to develop to their full potential. Countries that don't take urgent action to redress sanitation deficiencies will find their future development and prosperity impaired. Limitations and exceptions: There are three main ways to meet the criteria for having a safely managed sanitation service (People should use improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households, and the excreta produced should either be: treated and disposed of in situ; stored temporality and then emptied, transported and treated off-site, or transported through a sewer with wastewater and then treated off-site). Many countries lack information on either wastewater treatment or the management of on-site sanitation. A national estimate is produced if information is available for the dominant type of sanitation system. If no information is available, it is assumed that 50 percent is safely managed. Regional and income group estimates are made when data are available for at least 30 percent of the population. Statistical concept and methodology: Data on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are produced by the Joint Monitoring Programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) based on administrative sources, national censuses and nationally representative household surveys. WHO/UNICEF defines safely managed sanitation facilities as improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households and where excreta are safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated offsite. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines: ventilated improved pit latrines, compositing toilets or pit latrines with slabs.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Republic of the Gambia
Records
63
Source