Billions of people around the globe will be unable to access safely managed household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services in 2030 unless the rate of progress quadruples, according to a new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO)
‘Hand-washing is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and other infectious diseases, yet millions of people across the world lack access to a reliable, safe supply of water,’ said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report – Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000 – 2020 – presents estimates on household access to safely managed drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services over the past five years, and assesses progress toward achieving the sixth sustainable development goal (SDG) to ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030′.
Between 2016 and 2020, the global population with safely managed drinking water at home increased from 70 to 74%; safely sanitation services grew from 47 to 54%; and hand-washing facilities with soap and water jumped from 67 to 71%.
Despite our impressive progress to date to scale-up these life-saving services, the alarming and growing needs continue to outstrip our ability to respond, said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
¨Even before the pandemic, millions of children and families were suffering without clean water, safe sanitation, and a place to wash their hands,¨ Fore stressed.
‘The time has come to dramatically accelerate our efforts to provide every child and family with the most basic needs for their health and well-being, including fighting off infectious diseases like Covid-19.’
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