water and sanitation is more important than ever. handwashing is one of the most common prevention methods for coronavirus, yet two out of five people do not have access to a hand-washing station. millennium development goal number 7 until 2015 example for lack of sanitation: unhygienic pit latrine with ring slab in kalibari community in mymensingh, bangladesh the united nations, during the millennium summit in new york in 2000 and the 2002 world summit on sustainable development in johannesburg, developed the millennium development goals (mdgs) aimed at poverty eradication and sustainable development. the specific sanitation goal for the year 2015 was to reduce by half the number of people who had no access to potable water and sanitation in the baseline year of 1990. as the jmp and the united nations development programme (undp) human development report in 2006 has shown, progress meeting the mdg sanitation target is slow, with a large gap between the target coverage and the current reality.modified logo of international year of sanitation, used in the un drive to 2015 campaign logo in december 2006, the united nations general assembly declared 2008 "the international year of sanitation", in recognition of the slow progress being made towards the mdgs sanitation target. the year aimed to develop awareness and more actions to meet the target. there are numerous reasons for this gap. a major one is that sanitation is rarely given political attention received by other topics despite its key importance. sanitation is not high on the international development agenda, and projects such as those relating to water supply projects are emphasised. the joint monitoring programme for water supply and sanitation of who and unicef (jmp) has been publishing reports of updated estimates every two years on the use of various types of drinking-water sources and sanitation facilities at the national, regional and global levels. the jmp report for 2015 stated that: between 1990 and 2015, open defecation rates have decreased from 38% to 25% globally. just under one billion people (946 million) still practise open defecation worldwide in 2015. 82% of the global urban population, and 51% of the rural population is using improved sanitation facilities in 2015, as per the jmp definition of "improved sanitation". initiatives to promote sanitation in 2011 the bill & melinda gates foundation launched the "reinvent the toilet challenge" to promote safer, more effective ways to treat human waste. the program is aimed at developing technologies that might help bridge the global sanitation gap (for example the omni processor, or technology for fecal sludge management). in 2015, the bill & melinda gates foundation published their "water, sanitation, and hygiene strategy portfolio update and overview" called "building demand for sanitation". the latest innovations in the field of public health sanitation, currently in the testing phase, comprise - use of ‘locally produced alcohol-based hand rub’; ‘novel latrine improvement’; and ‘container-based sanitation’. centers for disease control and prevention (cdc), the national public health agency of the united states has recognized the stated three initiatives. capacity development capacity development is regarded as an important mechanism to achieve progress in the sanitation sector. for example, in india the sanitation capacity building platform (scbp) was designed to "support and build the capacity of town/cities to plan and implement decentralized sanitation solutions" with funding by the bill & melinda gates foundation from 2015 to 2022. results from this project showed that capacity development best happens on the job and in a learning organization culture. in a government capacity development initiative, it is critical to have an enabling policy and program funding to translate capacity development input into program and infrastructure outputs. capacity development aims to empower staff and institutions, develop a learning strategy, learning content and training modules, as well as strengthened partnerships and institutions of learning. the capacity development effectiveness ladder framework (cdel) identifies five critical steps for capacity development interventions: developing original learning content, partnerships for learning and outreach, learning strategy, visioning change and designing solutions, contribution to capacity development discourse. costs a study was carried out in 2018 to compare the lifecycle costs of full sanitation chain systems in developing cities of africa and asia. it found that conventional sewer systems are in most cases the most expensive sanitation options, followed, in order of cost, by sanitation systems comprising septic tanks, ventilated improved pit latrines (vip), urine diversion dry toilets and pour-flush pit latrines. the main determinants of urban sanitation financial costs include: type of technology, labour, material and utility cost, density, topography, level of service provided by the sanitation system, soil condition, energy cost and others (distance to wastewater treatment facility, climate, end-use of treatment products, business models, water table height). some grassroots organizations have trialled community-managed toilet blocks whose construction and maintenance costs can be covered by households. one study of mumbai informal settlements found that us$1.58 per adult would be sufficient for construction, and less than us$1/household/month would be sufficient for maintenance. history further information: history of water supply and sanitation, toilet § history, and history of waste management major human settlements could initially develop only where fresh surface water was plentiful, such as near rivers or natural springs. throughout history people have devised systems to get water into their communities and households, and to dispose (and later also treat) wastewater. the focus of sewage treatment at that time was on conveying raw sewage to a natural body of water, e.g. a river or ocean, where it would be diluted and dissipated. the sanitation in the indus valley civilization in asia is an example of public water supply and sanitation during the bronze age (3300–1300 bce). sanitation in ancient rome was quite extensive. these systems consisted of stone and wooden drains to collect and remove wastewater from populated areas—see for instance the cloaca maxima into the river tiber in rome. the first sewers of ancient rome were built between 800 and 735 bce. by country water supply and sanitation by countryafghanistanalgeriaangolaargentinaaustraliaazerbaijanbangladeshbelgiumbelizebeninbhutanboliviabrazilburkina fasocambodiacanadachilechinacolombiacosta ricacubademocratic republic of the congodenmarkdominican republicecuadoregyptel salvadorethiopiafrancegeorgiagermanyghanagreecegrenadaguatemalaguyanahaitihondurasindiaindonesiairaniraqirelandisraelitalyjamaicajapanjordankenyakuwaitlaoslebanonlesotholiberialibyamalaysiamalimexicomoroccomozambiquenamibianepalnetherlandsnew zealandnicaraguanigeriaomanpakistanpalestinepanamaparaguayperuphilippinesportugalrussiarwandasaudi arabiasenegalsierra leonesingaporesolomon islandssouth africasouth sudanspainsudansyriataiwantanzaniathailandtrinidad and tobagotunisiaturkeytuvaluugandaunited kingdomunited statesuruguayvenezuelavietnamyemenzambiazimbabwe society and culture there is a vast number of professions that are involved in the field of sanitation, for example on the technical and operations side: sanitation workers, waste collectors, sanitary engineers.