Final answer:
The statement is true; the water and sanitation crisis affects a large portion of the global population, with serious implications for public health, causing millions of deaths annually, especially among children. The correct option is a).
Step-by-step explanation:
The assertion that a significant proportion of the world's population does not have access to improved sanitation facilities, with approximately 13% practicing open defecation, is true.
The UNICEF and the World Health Organization have reported staggering statistics highlighting the water and sanitation crisis.
Over 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water, and more than half of the global population does not have access to safely managed sanitation services, which impacts public health severely.
Children and other vulnerable groups are particularly at risk, with almost 300,000 children dying annually from diarrheal diseases linked to poor sanitation and unsafe water.
Moreover, inadequate sanitation and lack of clean water supply contribute to significant health problems like diarrhea, malnutrition, and stunted growth, resulting in millions of deaths each year.
Due to rapid urbanization and high population growth, especially in areas where sewage systems are either weak or nonexistent, sewage ends up contaminating waterways, which worsens human waste pollution.
The call to action by the UN to eliminate open defecation by 2025 is crucial in addressing these issues, although the current trajectory suggests this goal might be met only by 2030. Option a) is the correct one.