East Asia Ministerial Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene 2007 (EASAN 2007)

EASAN 2007

The East Asia Ministerial Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene 2007 (EASAN 2007) aims to bring together leaders of fifteen nations to discuss options for accelerated national action to achieve and exceed sanitation targets of the Millennium Development Goals in East Asia, in which almost one billion people still lack access to basic sanitation facilities.

The Need for Action

If the MDG on sanitation is to be achieved, almost 400 million people in the region will need to gain access to improved sanitation facilities. According to the 2006 Human Development Report, “Clean water and sanitation are among the most powerful preventative medicines for reducing child mortality. They are to diarrhea what immunization is to killer diseases such as measles or polio: a mechanism for reducing risk and averting death. In addition to saving lives, upstream investments in water and sanitation make economic sense because they would reduce the downstream costs facing health systems. Universal access to even the most basic water and sanitation facilities would reduce the financial burden on health systems in developing countries by about $1.6 billion annually….”

Sanitation and hygiene are essential elements of development. Access to improved sanitation and hygiene reduces the risk of preventable diseases, including SARS, avian flu and intestinal worm infestation, but most notably to diarrhea, which is a major child killer. East Asia is home to some of the world’s success stories in sanitation development and hygiene promotion. It is this regional experience which can be brought to bear to develop workable strategies to increase access and to meet or exceed the MDG targets for sanitation. The nations of East Asia have many useful experiences to share, whatever their stage of economic development.

EASAN 2007 aims to:

• Generate commitments from governments and partners to increase investment in improved sanitation and hygiene;
• Agree on a joint declaration to implement effective national policies, programs and partnerships for sanitation and hygiene; and
• Explore options for establishing a regional process on sanitation and hygiene to maintain focus and attention on this vital issue.

Conference Program

Chief highlights include:

• A ministerial roundtable to profile issues at the highest political level resulting in options for regional cooperation
• Country presentations to highlight key aspects of country strategies, to define their major challenges, and to present plans and lessons learned on viable actions/achievements at scale
• Country dialogues to enable country delegations to reflect, discuss and debate national policies and programs
• Regional thematic sessions to profile key ideas and successful approaches

Participating Countries

The focus countries for the conference are: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Mongolia, Timor-Leste, the Philippines and Vietnam. Other participating countries are: Brunei Darussalam, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand. About 180 representatives will be drawn from participating countries. National delegations led by ministerial representatives and including leading decision makers will come together with government, civil and private sector participants that have hands-on experience implementing sanitation and hygiene programs on the ground.

Co-organized by WSP, Unicef and WHO, EASAN 2007 is supported by the Australian Government’s Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DfID), the Government of Sweden’s Swedish International Development Assistance (SIDA) and other donors. EASAN is Working in Partnership with: UNSGAB (UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation), UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), WSSCC (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council), and IWA (International Water Association).

In conjunction with the conference, a media competition is organized for journalists in print, electronic, audio and audiovisual media with general circulation. Competition is open to foreign and local media with correspondents/ offices/ bureaus covering any of the EASAN focus countries with prizes including a fully-paid trip to Beppu City for three winners.

Conference Secretariat

For general inquiries about the conference contact:

• Jan-Willem Rosenboom, WSP-EAP Phnom Penh, tel: (855-23) 217 304 ext. 101, jrosenboom@worldbank.org
• Jema Sy, WSP-EAP Jakarta, tel: (62-21) 5299-3003, jsy@worldbank.org
• Mark Henderson, UNICEF Bangkok, tel: (66-2) 356-9270, henderson@unicef.org

For inquiries in Japan contact:

Ms. Nobuko Takahashi, Operations Manager, UNICEF Japan, tel: (81-3) 546-4431, ntakahashi@unicef.org with copy to jsy@worldbank.org

For media inquiries contact:

• Yosa Yuliarsa, WSP-EAP Jakarta, tel: (62-21) 5299-3179, yyuliarsa@worldbank.org
• Vandana Mehra, WSP-SA New Delhi, tel: (91-11) 2469-0488, vmehra@worldbank.org

Download the event brochure

- Location:

Beppu City, Japan

- Date:

30 Nov 07 - 01 Dec 07