World Water Day: 2.2 Billion People Still Lack Safe Water, Sanitation
World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, is an annual United Nations Observance focusing on the importance of freshwater. World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water.
WASH — Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Without water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), people’s wellbeing, dignity and opportunities are severely compromised, particularly women and girls’. The three components of WASH are grouped together because of their interdependence; one cannot be fully realized without the other.
Education is particularly impacted by quality restroom facilities. In Uganda, all Life water school sanitary facilities are accessible for persons with disabilities, and girls’ latrines are constructed to ensure an ideal facility for female menstrual hygiene requirements. Communities with safe restrooms can thrive. Safe water cannot be realized when human feces are in open fields, along roads, or anywhere where humans interact. Feces often contain dangerous pathogens that can make people sick, and children are especially susceptible. This is why the sanitation component of WASH strategies, which are designed to separate people from feces, are imperative to community health.
Access to water and sanitation are human rights. Hygiene knowledge and facilities are life-saving, highly cost-effective health interventions. Governments must take a rights-based, integrated approach to expanding access to these vital services.
Arising Issues towards WASH
Billions have no access to WASH: Enormous numbers of people, the vast majority in low income countries, have no access to safely managed water and sanitation, or to handwashing facilities with soap or alcohol-based rub. Refugees and migrants often spend long periods without access.
Inadequate WASH is a major killer: Inadequate WASH devastates public health. The infectious diseases that spread through unsafe water, from improperly disposed human waste and poor hygiene practices have a profound effect on high rates of infant mortality, malnutrition and chronic illness in the general population.
Poor sanitation and hygiene endangers women and girls: Going to the toilet outside, or in facilities shared with men, puts women and girls in danger. Lack of good hygiene knowledge or facilities prevents effective menstrual hygiene management (MHM) and can lead to serious health problems.
Lack of WASH perpetuates inequality: Women, girls, older people and disabled people are precluded from full participation in public spaces, workplaces and education by inadequate or non-existent WASH facilities.
The Way Forward
WASH is critical to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Safely managed water and sanitation services and adequate and equitable hygiene for all will drive progress across the 2030 Agenda, particularly in health, gender equality and livelihoods.
WASH is a defence against COVID-19. Governments must address the lack of WASH in healthcare facilities to help control the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, cholera and typhoid, and provide a safe environment for staff and patients.
WASH must be central to climate adaptation plans. Governments must ensure that water and sanitation services and hygiene behaviours and facilities can withstand and be sustained during and after climate-related disasters, helping to protect public health in an uncertain future.
WASH can drive economic growth. Investment in WASH generates positive returns in reduced medical burden and increased productivity, removes barriers to marginalized groups’ participation in society, and creates long-term jobs.
WASH Practices That Can Be Imbibed By All
Handwashing: Washing hands with soap stops the spread of disease. People build simple handwashing devices that save water and lives.
Drinking and Storing Safe Water: Clean water stored in dirty containers becomes unsafe water. Families learn to keep water safe from collection to consumption.
Drying Rack: Washing dishes and drying them in the sun, away from animals, helps stop the spread of harmful pathogens.
Using a Proper restroom: Building and using a simple latrine separates people from poop, drastically decreasing waterborne diseases. It also provides safety and dignity.
Clean Compound: Keeping the household environment clear of trash and feces discourages germs, keeps people safer, and helps them take more pride in their home.
Facts
2.2 billion still live without safely managed drinking water, including 115 million people who drink surface water. (WHO/UNICEF, 2023).
3.5 billion people still live without safely managed sanitation, including 419 million who practise open defecation. (WHO/UNICEF, 2023)
Unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene are responsible for the deaths of around 1,000 children under 5 every day. (WHO, 2023)
Under-fives living in countries experiencing protracted conflict are 20 times more likely to die from causes linked to unsafe water and sanitation than from direct violence. (UNICEF, 2019)
Hygiene promotion is the most cost-effective health intervention. (World Bank, 2016)
By Damilola Ilori
References
- UN Water [UN-Water]. (2023). WASH — Water, Sanitation and Hygiene | UN-Water. Retrieved from https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/wash-water-sanitation-and-hygiene
- United Nations. (2023). World Water Day — Resources | United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day/resources
- What is WASH? Discovering the Impact of Simple Practices. (2023). Retrieved from https://lifewater.org/blog/what-is-wash
