Read the passage and answer the following questions.
In 2019, WHO and UNICEF published the latest figures on clean water and sanitation in the world. The figures were for the year 2017. More than 785 million people did not have even basic water services. The share of people using safely managed drinking water had gone up from 61% in 2000 to 71%. Over 3 billion people used safely managed sanitation services, but 673 million still practised open defecation. About 3 billion people had no proper facilities to wash their hands safely at home. Where schools lack toilets, girls who reach puberty are more likely to miss school than boys.
Millions of people suffer from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as Guinea worm disease, trachoma and schistosomiasis. Many of these diseases are linked to water or hygiene. They are found most often in places with unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation and poor hygiene. Unsafe drinking water contributed to 72% of deaths from diarrhoea, and unsafe sanitation to about 56%.
Water, sanitation and hygiene could prevent at least 9% of the world’s disease burden and 6% of all deaths. In the U.S., money spent on water filtration and chlorination in the first half of the 20th century is estimated to have brought back 23 times its value in public health. Water and sanitation interventions are cost-effective in every region of the world.
The United Nations aims to give every person basic and safely managed water and sanitation by 2030. To meet this goal, an estimated 2.2 billion people still need safely managed drinking water, 4.2 billion need safely managed sanitation and 3 billion need basic handwashing facilities.
Which word in the passage means ‘the passing of waste matter from the body’?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Defecation
The passage says that 673 million people “still practised open defecation”.
- Defecation means passing waste matter from the body.
- Open defecation means doing this in the open, not in a toilet. Example: The village built toilets for every home to end open defecation.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Chlorination — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: Chlorination means adding chlorine to water to kill germs. In the passage it is a way of cleaning water. Example: Chlorination keeps the water in the swimming pool safe.
Option 3: Sanitation — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: Sanitation means the system for removing waste safely, such as toilets and drains. It is the system, not the passing of waste itself. Example: Poor sanitation in the slum spread disease.
Option 4: Filtration — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: Filtration means passing water through a filter to remove dirt. In the passage it is another way of cleaning water. Example: Filtration removes mud from the river water.