Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic wastewater (sewage, sullage, greywater), industrial wastes and agricultural wastes. Hygienic means of prevention can be by using engineering solutions (e.g. sewerage and wastewater treatment), simple technologies (e.g. latrines, septic tanks), or even by personal hygiene practices (e.g. simple handwashing with soap).

The World Health Organization states that:

The term "sanitation" can be applied to a specific aspect, concept, location or strategy, such as:

The earliest evidence of urban sanitation was seen in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and the recently discovered Rakhigarhi of Indus Valley civilization. This urban plan included the world's first urban sanitation systems. Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells. From a room that appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets.

Jan Kenneth Eliasson (born 17 September 1940) is a Swedish diplomat and Social Democratic politician. He will become the UN Deputy Secretary-General on 1 July 2012.

Jan Eliasson was born in a working-class family in Gothenburg. He was an AFS exchange student in Indiana, United States, from 1957 to 1958 and was commissioned reserve officer after military training at the Swedish Naval Academy in 1962. In 1965 he earned a master's degree in economics from the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. He also holds honorary degrees from American University (1994), University of Gothenburg (2001) and Uppsala University (2005).

Eliasson has authored and co-authored numerous books and articles and is a frequent lecturer on foreign policy and diplomacy. Since 1988 he has been a visiting lecturer on mediation, conflict resolution and UN reform at Uppsala University.

Eliasson started his diplomatic career in 1965, when he was employed at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. From 1982 to 1983 he served as Diplomatic Advisor to the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, and from 1983 to 1987 as Director General for Political Affairs in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.