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Water

Improve access to sanitation in China

Nature volume 488, page 32 (2012)Cite this article

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We hope that last month's raising of drinking-water standards in China will help to speed up improvements in the country's sanitation. As in India, sanitation remains inadequate for a rapidly developing country (Nature 486, 185; 2012).

In 2010, 477 million people in China (36% of the population) did not have access to improved sanitation such as a ventilated pit latrine or a flush toilet piped to a sewer system (WHO/UNICEF Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation, 2012). There are national disparities as well, with 74% of people having improved access to sanitation in urban areas in 2010, but only 56% in rural areas. Provision of sanitation facilities for disabled people is sparse.

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  1. University of Southampton, UK

    Hong Yang & Jim A. Wright

  2. University of Bristol, UK

    Stephen W. Gundry

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  1. Hong Yang
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  2. Jim A. Wright
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  3. Stephen W. Gundry
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Correspondence to Hong Yang.

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Yang, H., Wright, J. & Gundry, S. Improve access to sanitation in China. Nature 488, 32 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/488032b

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