Characteristics of Households - Childinfo.org

VII WATERAND SANITATIONSafe drinking water is a basic necessity for good health.Unsafe drinking water can be a significant carrierof diseases such as trachoma, cholera, typhoid, andschistosomiasis. Drinking water can also be taintedwith chemical, physical and radiological contaminantswith harmful effects on human health. In additionto its association with disease, access to drinkingwater may be particularly important for women andchildren, especially in rural areas, who bear the primaryresponsibility for carrying water, often for long distances.The MDG goal is to reduce by half, between 1990 and2015, the proportion of people without sustainable accessto safe drinking water and basic sanitation. The World Fitfor Children goal calls for a reduction in the proportion ofhouseholds without access to hygienic sanitation facilitiesand affordable and safe drinking water by at least one-third.The list of indicators used in MICS is as follows:Water• Use of improved drinking water sources• Use of adequate water treatment method• Time to source of drinking water• Person collecting drinking waterUse of Improved Water SourcesThe distribution of the population by source of drinking wateris shown in Table WS.1 and Figure WS.1. The populationusing improved sources of drinking water are those using anyof the following types of supply: piped water (into dwelling,compound, yard or plot, public tap/standpipe), tube well/borehole, protected well, protected spring, and rainwatercollection. Bottled water is considered as an improved watersource only if the household is using an improved watersource for other purposes, such as handwashing and cooking.Overall, 100 percent of the population is using animproved source of drinking water — 100 percent inurban areas and 99 percent in rural areas. There is no bigdifference between regions, wealth index quintiles or byeducation of household head.Figure WS.1: Percent distribution of householdmembers by source of drinking water, Serbia, 2010Sanitation• Use of improved sanitation facilities• Sanitary disposal of child’s faecesFor more details on water and sanitation and to accesssome reference documents, please visit the UNICEFChildInfo website http://www.childinfo.org/wes.html.MONITORING THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN 91