Planning Minister M. A. Mannan MP reiterated that the Bangladesh was committed to end poverty, ensure good health for all, gender equality, climate, nutrition and food security, decent employment and quality education as well as access to safe and affordable safe water and sanitation for all to achieve SDG 6 by 2030.

He reassured that the Government was committed to making progress in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector. He also said that as part of achieving the SDG, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics will continue to regularly update the 'National Wash Accounts' in the future to develop evidence-based planning and policies in the WASH sector as well as increase transparency and accountability in the WASH sector.

M A Mannan said these while unveiling the 'National WASH Accounts 2020' report for the first time in Bangladesh to track overall spending trends in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector, on Sunday.

Planning Ministry's Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Dr. Shahnaz Arefin and Local Government Division Additional Secretary Mustakim Billah Faruqui were present as special guests at the event presided over by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Director General Mohammed Mizanur Rahman.

WaterAid South Asia Regional Director Dr. Khairul Islam and WaterAid Bangladesh Country Director Hasin Jahan joined as honourable Guests.

Focal Point and Deputy Director of the National Wash Accounts development programme of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Alamgir Hossen presented the main features of the 'National Wash Accounts 2020' report.

Representatives from various public and private institutions and development aid organizations attended the event. In addition to academicians, researchers, journalists, there were officials from the BBS and WaterAid Bangladesh.

According to the 2020 report of 'National WASH Accounts', in 2020, WASH sector expenditure was 2.18 percent of the total GDP of the country. Bangladesh spent an average of Tk 11,574 per household per year on WASH (i.e., Tk. 1,502 on water; Tk. 1,985 on sanitation; and Tk. 8,087 on hygiene).

Which is 4.3 percent of the citizens annual household income. Distribution of household WASH expenditure by income as found that households with low income and living in impoverished conditions in both urban and rural areas spent a large portion of their income on WASH.

In her speech Dr. Shahnaz Arefin highlighted that the BBS under the Department of Statistics and Informatics Division as the national statistical agency to ensure supply of required data and insights for policy-makers, planners, researchers, educators and other stakeholders.

Following the request of the Local Government Division, BBS and WaterAid Bangladesh with the technical support of WHO and UNICEF, successfully followed the 'TrackFin' guidelines for the first time formulated the National Wash Accounts in Bangladesh for proper planning, policy-making and evidence-based development planning.

Mustakim Billah Faruqui said that one of the goals of the government is to ensure sustainable management and availability of water and sanitation for all by 2030 as per SDG 6 target.

Dr. Khairul Islam said that in order to face various challenges of proper planning of WASH sector, and to determine household-wise personal expenditure in National WASH Accounts, apart from taking primary data, institution-wise survey has also been conducted.

Hasin Jahan expressed her strong optimism that through the formulation and adoption of National Wash Accounts, and the formulation and implementation of an integrated development plan by the government, relevant development partners, local government institutions, domestic and international development agencies to ensure universal WASH services will be facilitated.

Source: Daily Observer