Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan with 110 million inhabitants out of which 70 million population resides in the rural areas. Despite being the largest province with reference to population, the people living in rural areas of Punjab have been deprived of improved water and sanitation facilities for so long.
Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report, 2020 reveals that 4 out of 5 people live below the international poverty line in rural areas. Studies conducted in different periods of time have linked improved water and sanitation facilities with the alleviation of poverty and urged governments to provide high quality water and sanitation facilities in order to uplift the people from the marshes of poverty and devastating socio-economic conditions.
Despite making significant efforts by the people at the helm of the affairs in Pakistan to improve the prevailing situation, 44% population of Punjab still do not have access to improved water and sanitation facilities as per globally established standards. Reports show that 3 in 5 households in Punjab use E-Coli contaminated water and every 25th household in Punjab lacks access to the improved sources of drinking water. Similarly, the situation of sanitation is also immensely deplorable.
Basic sanitation facilities are available to only 76% population which means that every 8th household in Punjab uses open-defecation owing to the absence of basic sanitation facilities. Resultantly, 36 out of 100 children under the age of 5 have impaired growth due to malnutrition. Every 5th child under 5 years of age is too thin of his age, and every 7th child is too short for his height.
For every 1000 children born alive, 69 die before their 5th birthday and 41 within their one month of birth. Keeping in view the prevalent situation of water and sanitation in the rural areas of Punjab, Punjab Rural Municipal Services Company (PMSC) has been established under the umbrella of the Government of Pakistan and World Bank to provide improved water, and quality sanitation and hygiene facilities in the rural areas of Punjab.