Geneva: Urgent action is needed globally and locally to achieve safe and sustainably managed water, sanitation and hygiene for all in order to prevent devastating impacts on the health of millions of people, United Nations (UN) agencies said today.
Findings from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN-Water’s Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report show that acceleration is needed in many countries to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 – water and sanitation for all by 2030.
While 45% of countries are on track to achieve their nationally-defined drinking-water coverage targets, only 25% of countries are on track to achieve their national sanitation targets.
Less than a third of countries reported to have sufficient human resources required to carry out key drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) functions.
While there has been an increase in WASH budgets in some countries, a large number--over 75% of countries reported insufficient funding to implement their WASH plans and strategies.
"We are facing an urgent crisis: poor access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene claim millions of lives each year, while the increasing frequency and intensity of climate-related extreme weather events continue to hamper the delivery of safe WASH services," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, in a media release on Wednesday.
"We call on governments and development partners to strengthen WASH systems and dramatically increase investment to extend access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation services to all by 2030, beginning with the most vulnerable," he stated.
The GLAAS 2022 report, which details the latest status of WASH systems in more than 120 countries, is the largest data collection from the greatest number of countries to date.
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