Women in rural areas spend on average 40 billion working hours yearly collecting water, which could have alternatively been spent earning a living by working a job. Young girls especially are burdened with the task of collecting water and therefore are discouraged from going to school. The lack of education leads to ignorance about gender inequality and other forms of discrimination that could empower them to stand up for themselves, earn a living and reduce the already growing income gap. Not only would a stable sanitation and water service provide people with more employment opportunities that could help them live a productive life, but more importantly, water supply and sanitation also reduces health complications like diarrhea which betters the community as healthcare is already not readily available. 

     A good way to fix the water and sanitation problem is the installation of proper toilets and water pipe systems. An article from the Business report published in March 2017 mentions how the construction of of  new toilets and water pipe systems within urban slums which lack them is essential to mitigate the adverse health issues within these communities such as the spread of diarrhea for instance.

However, there still exists 783 million people being denied the human right to access basic sanitation and water facilities, and 2.5 billion people still lacking access to an adequate toilet so the cycle of poverty is still perpetuated due to the unceasing crises related to the public health of communities as sanitation is not prioritized.

Source: 

Opinion. ?Poor Sanitation a Barrier to Economic Growth and Development | IOL News.? IOL Business Report, 26 Mar. 2017, www.iol.co.za/news/opinion/poor-sanitation-a-barrier-to-economic-growth-and-development-8350007.