poor sanitation and wastewater management leads to contamination of fresh water sources and is a major cause of disease and death while also being detrimental to the health of ecosystems nevertheless improvements among asiapacific subregions vary in terms of both speed of progress and attainment levels in the pacific overall coverage has declined from percent in to per cent in access to basic sanitation is a particular concern in papua new guinea and solomon islands where less than a third of the countries populations had access to improved sanitation in with limited or no progress over the levels recorded in that is from per cent in to per cent in and from per cent in to per cent in respectively