The Bishkek Resolution on Sanitation and Ecological Safety
Participants International Conference on Sanitation and Ecological Safety in Kyrgyzstan, held in Bishkek in November 2008, appeal to governments of the Central Asian states to develop innovative technologies in sustainable sanitation and water safety
28.03.2009 | Gero Fedtke
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The
200 participants to the International Conference "The International Year of Sanitation and Ecological Safety in Kyrgyzstan", Bishkek, 11 - 12 November 2008, appeal to the governments of the Central Asian states with a resolution to develop innovative technologies in sustainable sanitation and water safety, and join the international protocol on water and health.
Participants to the conference discussed the challenges and perspectives of Water, Sanitation, and Health in Kyrgyzstan and the Pan-European region. "Each year, 175 - 210 thousand cases of infectious diseases caused by poor sanitation and hygiene are registered in the Kyrgyz republic, 70% of all registered infectious diseases!" said Sabirjan Abdykerimov, Deputy Minister of Health and Chief Sanitation Doctor of the Kyrgyz republic. In June 2008, Kyrgyzstan's government passed a plan on improving the sanitation situation in the country. Many of the implemented programs focus on improved water supply and capacity building on hygiene. Sustainable sanitation can contribute considerably to lower the burden of infectious diseases in Kyrgyzstan. Speakers at the conference presented the first sustainable sanitation solutions applied in demonstration projects in Kyrgyzstan.
“It was the first time in Kyrgyzstan that a two day conference was focussed on both policy solutions and on innovative technical solutions to improve the water and health situation”, says Carola Bjorklund, senior diplomat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, “and it is a strong signal to the governments, that the conference resolution calls for the Central Asian countries to ratify the international protocol on water and health”. “We have a number of donor projects providing piped water supply to villages, but if sanitation is not addressed at the same time, we find that often waste water and toilet waste end up in puddles in the streets or gardens, or are lead into a nearby stream, a hygienic risk for the local population”, said Mrs Sharshenova of the ministry of health of Kyrgyzstan.
Opening the Conference, Nazgul Tashpaeva, Head of the Kyrgyzstan State Department of Social Development, said: " I want to emphasize that this conference's results and resolution will be at the basis of the Kyrgyz government's strategy for further work on sanitation and hygiene."
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