Innovate for a hygienic South Asia: President

President Abdul Hamid yesterday stressed the need for putting best efforts in generating innovative and sustainable solutions to ensure a healthy and hygienic atmosphere and build a prosperous South Asia.

The president made the statement at the three-day Sixth South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN-VI) held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.

Hamid said water, sanitation and hygiene would come into the forefront as the South Asian nations go forward into the era of Sustainable Development Goals.

In the afternoon sessions of the conference, each of the participating countries presented papers on the state of their sanitation and how they plan to move forward, our staff correspondent reports.

Presenting the key-note paper, Prof M Feroze pointed out while Bangladesh is not far from being 100 percent open defecation free, the focus should be on improving the existing sanitation system.

Toilets should be installed and set up in a way that the environment is not affected by it, he added. He also explained the correlation between open defecation and malnutrition, stunting, and spread of water borne diseases.