Estimated reading time: 9 minute(s)
Adetutu Sobowale
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have said that over 2 billion people globally lack safe drinking water, and almost half of the world’s population uses sanitation services that leave human waste untreated.
The organisations stressed that the consequences of inadequate WASH services are devastating, with millions of children and families lacking proper sanitation and hygiene, including soap to wash their hands, adding that at least 1.4 million people die yearly due to preventable causes linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation, with many of them being children.
WHO equally stressed that half of all healthcare facilities lack soap, water, or alcohol-based hand sanitizing solution.
“Around the world, 2 billion people lack safe drinking water and 3.6 billion people – almost half the world’s population – use sanitation services that leave human waste untreated.
“Millions of children and families do not have adequate WASH services, including soap to wash their hands. The consequences can often be deadly.
“Each year at least 1.4 million people – many of them children – die from preventable causes linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation. Right now, for example, cholera is spreading in countries that have not had outbreaks in decades.
“The social and economic effects of inadequate WASH services are equally damaging, with people falling sick, children missing out on learning, and entire communities being displaced by water scarcity.
“On the other hand, access to safe water and sanitation has numerous benefits for individuals and societies, including healthy development in children and sustaining well-being as adults.”
The organisations also stressed that half of all healthcare facilities lack soap, water, or alcohol-based hand sanitizing solutions.
“Half of all healthcare facilities – where proper hygiene practices are especially critical – lack water and soap or alcohol-based hand sanitizing solution.”
The health organization called on all nations to take drastic actions to ensure water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for everyone.
The call came as the United Nations Water Conference commenced on Wednesday, the first in nearly 50 years.
The organizations urged governments to develop strategies to increase political commitment to safely manage drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, and to strengthen the governance and institutions needed to provide these services.
They also called for funding and financing strategies to be developed to recognize the value of WASH as a public good and increase public spending.
They equally encouraged the development of a diverse and gender-balanced workforce, the institutionalization of data collection, and monitoring within national systems, and innovation and experimentation to develop and implement new solutions.
The WHO and UNICEF emphasized that investments and decisive actions in water, sanitation, and hygiene could be transformative and unlock universal access to WASH.
According to WHO, the world needs to quadruple the current rates of progress to achieve this goal by 2030, particularly in fragile contexts and the poorest countries.”
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s)
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