The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development Celebrates the International Year of Sanitation

Kabul (March 16 2008):

The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) celebrated the International year of Sanitation in the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) today.

The UN General Assembly declared the year 2008 the International Year of Sanitation, hence, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development take this opportunity to celebrate this year while reiterating its commitments.

MRRD plans to provide 15 millions of citizens with pure drinking water in 5 upcoming years through its Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (ruWATSAN) programme. Moreover, MRRD works to improve sanitation by holding workshops, Hygiene education and implementation of sanitation projects through its ruWATSAN programme.

H.E Mohammad Ehsan Zia the Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development said that MRRD recommits to lead government agencies and international partners to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target to “Halve, by 2020, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation”. He added that the International Year of Sanitation provides an opportunity to rededicate all actors who help facilitate water, sanitation and hygiene education to work with and serve vulnerable Afghan children and adults for their improved health and happiness.

Meanwhile, the senior representatives from UNICEF, the Ministry of Public Health and WHO addressed the ceremony regarding their preparations and activities.

It’s worth mentioning that through the ministry’s water, sanitation and hygiene eductaiton projects provided safe drinking water to more than 6.3 million citizen and improved sanitation to more than 100,000 Afghans, while more than 3.8 million people across the country benefitede from hygiene education workshops so far. Studies prove that these workshops make a dramatic difference in improving the hygienic behavior of the participants.