WHO report highlights significant impact of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ Program on Public Health and Economic Savings

Source: The post is based on the following articles

“Piped potable water across India will avert 4,00,000 diarrhoea deaths, finds WHO” published in The Hindu on 10th June 2023

“WHO report highlights significant impact of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ Program on Public Health and Economic Savings” published in the PIB on 9th June 2023

What is the News?

WHO has recently highlighted the substantial benefits of the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ program in India. No programme has this kind of direct impact on improving the lives of individuals and families physically, mentally, and financially.No programme has this kind of direct impact on improving the lives of individuals and families physically, mentally, and financially.

About Jal Jeevan Mission

What is the performance of the Har Ghar Jal program?

Note: A fully functional tap water connection is defined as a household getting at least 55 litres of per capita per day of potable water all throughout the year.

Currently, about 12.3 crore rural households, or 62%, have piped water connections up from 3.2 crore or about 16.6% from 2019 when the scheme was launched. The Centre has claimed that it will achieve 100% coverage by 2024.

Five States including Gujarat, Telangana, Goa, Haryana, and Punjab and 3 Union Territories — Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Daman Diu & Dadra Nagar Haveli and Puducherry have reported 100% coverage.

Himachal Pradesh at 98.87%, followed by Bihar at 96.30%, are also poised to achieve saturation in near future.

What are the key findings of the WHO report on the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ program?

Health impacts of Har Ghar Jal program: The report focuses on diarrheal diseases as they contribute significantly to the overall disease burden related to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) issues.

Ensuring safely managed drinking water for all households in the country could avert nearly 400,000 deaths caused by diarrheal diseases and prevent approximately 14 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) related to these diseases.

This achievement alone would result in estimated cost savings of up to $101 billion.

Note: Every dollar invested in sanitation interventions gives a $4.3 return in the form of reduced healthcare costs

Safe water supply: The report reveals that in 2018, 36% of India’s total population, including 44% of the rural population, lacked access to improved drinking-water sources on their premises. The direct consumption of unsafe drinking water had severe health and societal consequences.

The analysis indicates that in 2019, unsafe drinking water, along with inadequate sanitation and hygiene, contributed to 1.4 million deaths and 74 million DALYs globally.

Note: The WHO monitors various Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators, including the proportion of the population using safely managed drinking water services (Indicator 6.1.1) and mortality related to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene (Indicator 3.9.2). WHO has developed methods and tools to estimate the health gains associated with improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Save time and effort for women: Tremendous time and effort have been saved for women and girls through the provision of tap water. In 2018, households without on-premises water spent a staggering 66.6 million hours each day collecting water, with the majority (55.8 million hours) occurring in rural areas. Universal coverage through tap water provision will result in substantial savings by eliminating the need for daily water collection efforts.