New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS): Social activist and founder of 'Sulabh International' Bindeshwar Pathak was on Thursday selected for a top US humanitarian award for his contribution to sanitation and enhancing the quality of life for millions of manual scavengers.

The New York Global Leaders Dialogue Humanitarian Award will be presented to Pathak on April 12, 2016 in New York.

"Pathak is a great humanitarian, who for decades, has enhanced the quality of life for millions of fellow human beings. He embodies our philosophy of leadership, namely, that leadership is focused on creating collaborative new space in the service of others," New York Global Leaders Dialogue said in a statement.

The organisation also said that Pathak was the perfect example of a social leader, which was needed to be followed by several other nations.

Sulabh, which engages nearly 50,000 people, has constructed nearly 1.3 million household toilets and 54 million government toilets based on an innovative design.

Apart from construction of toilets, the organisation is leading a movement to discourage manual cleaning of human waste.