Final Report – Sanitation Review
While appreciating that the issue of indoor air quality has, in recent years, emerged as a major health concern in both the developed and the developing countries of the world, the World Bank in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) undertook and accomplished the necessary task of attempting a Bangladesh Country Environment Analysis (CEA), a major finding of which study also convincingly pointed at the dire fact that majority people in the country living in the rural areas are putting up with poor indoor air quality only because they are continuing with the traditional cooking practices.
The study also found that the indoor air pollution (IAP) exposure risks can also be mitigated by the villagers at feasible cost, if self interest motivates them, and they are convinced that the problems are serious, like problems and diseases caused by poor sanitation and bad hygiene practices. As the community led total sanitation (CLTS) approach ignited people to undertake sanitation programme at their own initiative, for own good, based on community organizations and own resources, supported and facilitated by the NGOs and LGIs, the IAP risks can also be mitigated with community-led approach through an integrated institutional arrangement (GO-LGIs-NGOs-CBOs and Private sector) and effective financial policy from the government and donor communities.
