Nepal focuses on management of Wash projects to tackle child diarrhoea

Published on February 7, 2013 15:20 by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government

Insufficient, fragmented and misdirected investment in the water andsanitationsector has hindered the fight against diarrhoea, leaving it one ofNepal's leading child killers despite hundreds of millions of dollars having been invested, say practitioners.

While health programming has helped reduce the severity and fatality of diarrhoea among children below the age of five, the percentage of children affected by it in Nepal has not budged in almost a decade, remaining at a stubbornly high 14%.

In order to achieve its targets of universal toilet coverage by 2017, and basic water and sanitation services for all, Nepal will need to double its current annual investment in the sector from $43m (£26.4m) to $85m, concluded the 2011 assessment.

The issue, however, is not only about money, there is also a need for more "rational" spending, said Nanda Bahadur Khanal, senior divisional engineer at the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).

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