Saturday, October 20, 2018

Improving sanitation in rural areas is still problematic

Improving sanitation in rural areas is still problematic

● Across Asian countries, almost 12 babies out of 100 are born preterm on average but the rate varies across countries, ranging from 5.9 in Japan to 15.8 in Pakistan. The average rate of low birth weight is 11.6% across Asian countries, much higher than the OECD average of 6.6%.
● In the Asian countries, although safe water access for rural dwellers has improved steadily since 1990 and reached 87.7% of rural populations in 2012 compared to 97% in urban dwellings, improving sanitation in rural areas is more problematic. In the region, on average, only 56.5% ofrural dwellers had access to adequate sanitation in 2012 compared to 73.6% in urban dwellings, andthe coverage was very low at 25% in Cambodia and India. 

● The proportion of daily smokers varies greatly across countries but the average smoking rate for men in Asian countries was significantly higher at 35% than the OECD average of 24% in 2012. There are large male-female disparities in the region and less than 5% of women in most Asian countries reporting smoking daily, compared with 16% in OECD countries.

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