The Rector was addressing the opening session of a two-day second international conference on applied development economics in partnership with the International Growth Centre. He said researchers should collaborate globally to understand and address the complexities of the developing world. He highlighted on how this conference sets the stage for further deliberation on core developmental issues.
The plenary address was delivered by lead economist World Bank Dr Ghazala Mansuri who took on a more policy-oriented approach towards issues in her insightful research focusing on water, sanitation and child health. She pondered over that it is puzzling that even though poverty has been on a declining trend in Pakistan, improvement in sanitation and access to safe drinking water - focal areas of MDGs have been limited.
She stressed on how stunting and wastage in children caused due to poor sanitation facilities, has an adverse impact on their motor skills and immunity, regardless of the household's income level. She highlighted that these effects were more strongly felt in Sindh, and more so in rural than urban areas, due to inefficient human fecal waste management relative to Punjab, KP and Balochistan. She also noted that only urban areas have access to piped water whereas hand and mechanized pumps are more commonly found in rural areas, with sporadic testing for water quality and contamination. This contamination, she explained, arises from effluent seeping into water ways and ground water used for drinking and irrigation of agricultural production which is highly detrimental to health.
She concluded her address by proposing that there is a need to strengthen regulatory guidelines and enforcement mechanisms in this sphere as well as provision safe water and sanitation by the public sector.