AfricaSan resolves to place sanitation and hygiene high on Africa's development agenda                                                           

The  Second  African Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene - AfricaSan+5 - was held in Durban, South Africa from February 18- 21, 2008, with firm resolutions  to  place  sanitation  and  hygiene  at  the top of the development agenda in Africa.       

The  high-level  conference  brought  more  than  600 delegates: including 32  African  government  ministers responsible for sanitation-related portfolios; managerial-level  sector  professionals  from the public and private sectors;  sanitation    sector    practitioners    in   civil   society;   multilateral donor/development agencies; research/training institutions and the media.   

AfricaSan+5 follows on after the First AfricaSan Conference held in 2002 that  helped  to  formulate  a  Millennium  Development Goal (MDG) specifically for sanitation:  to reduce, by half, the number of people without access to basic sanitation and hygiene by 2015.    

The Second AfricaSan Conference was the climax of a continent-wide process to assess   progress,  challenges,  and  lessons towards achieving the sanitation Millennium  Development  Goal (MDG).  

During  the  three-day  event,  the  delegates  agreed on an Action Plan that articulates  the  critical  actions  to  be  further  developed,  funded  and monitored  by  2010  in  order  to  put  Africa  "back  on track" to meet the  sanitation  MDGs.  The  African  Ministers' Coucil  on Water (AMCOW) was mandated  to  monitor  progress  against  the  national  plans  and report on progress during the next AfricaSan meeting in 2010.

The AfricaSan+5 Conference also marked the formal launch of the International Year of Sanitation in Africa. The year 2008 is set by the UN General Assembly as  the  International  Year  of  Sanitation  to  help accelerate progress on sanitation by putting the spotlight on this silent crisis.       

At  the  conclusion, the Ministers signed the eThekwini Declaration in which, among  other  undertakings,  they  pledged to create separate budget lines for  sanitation  and hygiene in their countries and to commit at least 0.5 percent of  GDP.  The eThekwini Declaration will be presented to the African Union at  its  2008  Heads  of  State and Government Summit to be held in Egypt in July  2008.  The  AU  heads  of  state will be requested  to  declare their support to  implementation of the AfricaSan Action Plan.      

 The AfricanSan  Conference  was  organized  under  the auspices of AMCOW, and its  partners:  the  African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nation's Children Fund  (UNICEF),  United  Nations Secretary Generals Advisory Board on Water  (UNSGAB),  the  Water  and Sanitation Program, Africa (WSP-Africa), the Water Supply   nd  Sanitation  Collaborative  Council  (WSSCC)  and  World  Health Organization (WHO); and hosts: South Africa's Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and eThekwini Municipality (City of Durban)