India's handset ownership rate higher than toilet ownership, research says

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) According to the United Nations web site, a study conducted by the United Nations University shows that less than one-third of India's people have good toilets, much lower than the number of mobile phones in the country.　　UNU calls for increased investment in health facilities, which is the most effective investment to help people get rid of disease and poverty.　　A recent study conducted by UNU in India found that in stark contrast to the country's 366 million people, which have good toilets, which are equivalent to 31% of the country's population, India's handset-ownership rate has exploded from 0.35 to 100 people per 100 in the past decade.　　Experts on the study point to the tragic irony that in a country where nearly half of the population has access to mobile phones, while half of them lack the basic sanitation facilities such as toilets and the dignity they represent. The United Nations University points out that 1 billion people around the world are currently in the open air, and that the target of halving the proportion of people with a global health facility by 2015 will be difficult to achieve by the current pace.　　The United Nations University estimates that the total cost of building a toilet is about $300 trillion, and that the Millennium goal is about $358 billion trillion, but the return on health and poverty is between $3 and $34 for every dollar spent on building toilets. The university also calls on the international community to set further goals beyond the Millennium Development Goals: to achieve adequate sanitation for the world's population by 2020.