Economic Aspects of Sanitation in Developing Countries

Improved sanitation has been shown to have great impacts on people's health and economy. However, the progress of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on halving the proportion of people without access to clean water and basic sanitation by 2015 has thus far been delayed. One of the reasons for the slow progress is that policy makers, as well as the general public, have not fully understood the importance of the improved sanitation solutions. This paper, by gathering relevant research findings, aims to report and discuss currently available evidence on the economic aspects of sanitation, including the economic impacts of unimproved sanitation and the costs and economic benefits of some common improved sanitation options in developing countries.; DATA USED IN THIS PAPER WERE OBTAINED FROM DIFFERENT INFORMATION SOURCES: international and national journal articles and reports, web-based statistics, and fact sheets. We used both online search and hand search methods to gather the information.; Scientific evidence has demonstrated that the economic cost associated with poor sanitation is substantial. At the global level, failure to meet the MDG water and sanitation target would have ramifications in the area of US$38 billion, and sanitation accounts for 92$142 billion (US$year 2005). This translates to a per capita spending of US$28 for sanitation. Annually, this translates to roughly US$14 million. The evidence complied in this paper demonstrates that investing in sanitation is socially and economically worthwhile. For every US$1 invested, achieving the sanitation MDG target and universal sanitation access in the non-OECD countries would result in a global return of US$9.1 and US$11.2, respectively.; Given the current state of knowledge, sanitation is undeniably a profitable investment. It is clear that achieving the MDG sanitation target not only saves lives but also provides a foundation for economic growth

The burden of mental disorders: a comparison of methods between the Australian burden of disease studies and the Global Burden of Disease study

The national and Victorian burden of disease studies in Australia set out to examine critically the methods used in the Global Burden of Disease study to estimate the burden of mental disorders. The main differences include the use of a different set of disability weights allowing estimates in greater detail by level of severity, adjustments for comorbidity between mental disorders, a greater number of mental disorders measured, and modelling of substance use disorders, anxiety disorders and bipolar disorder as chronic conditions. Uniform age-weighting in the Australian studies produces considerably lower estimates of the burden due to mental disorders in comparison with age-weighted disability-adjusted life years. A lack of follow-up data on people with mental disorders who are identified in cross-sectional surveys poses the greatest challenge in determining the burden of mental disorders more accurately

A simple means of improving the quality of speech from a diving helmet

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7383.85(BBC-RD--1989/16) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

On the design of loudspeakers for broadcast monitoring

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7383.85(BBC-RD--1988/14) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Acoustic scaling The development of improved instrumentation

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Lending Division - LD:7383.85(BBC-RD--1985/7) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

The control of audible effects of ground vibrations in building structures

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7383.85(BBC-RD--1989/2) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Some properties of antivibration mounts used in building isolation

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7383.85(BBC-RD--1989/3) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo