Diarrhoeal diseases from preventable causes claim the lives of approximately
1.7 million people a year, most of them young children throughout the world.
Evidence demonstrates that about 88 per cent of the burden of diarrhoeal
diseases is caused by lack of safe drinking-water, adequate sanitation and
poor hygiene behaviours.
It is increasingly recognised that effective operation and maintenance (O&M)
is one of the essential factors for providing reliable and sustainable water supply
and sanitation services. However, in many parts of the world inadequate O&M
has led to unsecure and ineffective services.
The mission of the OMN is to 'establish and maintain a network of service providers,
external support agencies and other stakeholders in order to exchange experiences,
knowledge and information through an open dialogue on O&M of water supply
and sanitation systems'.
To achieve the mission requires not only a technical transfer of knowledge, but a
transfer of our passion and conviction in the fundamental importance of O&M.
Our indicator of success will be the extent to which the Network impacts on the
daily work of practitioners and the influence it can bring to policy makers.
The Network provides you with tools to help better service delivery. Please use our
knowledge, and share your own, in achieving our common goals.
Dai SIMAZAKI, Coordinator of Operation and Maintenance Network
Department of Water Supply Engineering, National Institute of Public Health, Japan
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