The great promise of the International Year of Sanitation

Jon Lane

doi:10.3362/1756-3488.2008.036

The great promise of the International Year of Sanitation

The General Assembly of the United Nations established 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation (IYS). The IYS objective was to put the global community on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goal sanitation target. This paper describes how, as implemented, the IYS was a successful global advocacy and communications campaign which communicated five key messages: that access to basic sanitation improves health, generates economic development, promotes social development, helps the environment, and is universally achievable.

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