The proposition that there is a strong correlation between urbanisation and poverty reduction and improvement in access to water, sanitation and hygiene arrangements is not new either. Many decades ago, the level of development by a state began to be measured in terms of the access of its population, including those living outside cities, to urban facilities, ie safe water for drinking, electricity, schools near the homestead, minimum essential health cover and opportunities for gainful work. This model has often been recommended for Pakistan as it promises a decline in the birth rate, infant and maternal mortality, and in migration to cities. However, there is a limit to which urbanisation and improved service delivery can enable the people of Pakistan to reduce poverty and overcome the hazards to peopleâs well-being caused by the absence of or inadequacies in water, sanitation and hygiene management. In order to ensure that the entire population of the country can be rid of poverty and can overcome the hazards of consuming contaminated water, it will be necessary to liberate the people of the hydra-headed curse of an iniquitous land ownership pattern, feudal culture and patriarchy. Without a meaningful advance in these directions, a substantial part of the Pakistani population will remain condemned to increasing poverty, to living in urban slums, to non-realisation of womenâs potential to contribute to progress, and to stunting in children.
IA Rehman, 'Poverty & poison for drinking', Dawn
