Access to safe drinking water

and basic sanitation are vital for

health, especially among
children.
Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many serious consequences:

 Children die from preventable illnesses like diarrhea;

 Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to
education because their schools lack private and decent
sanitation facilities;
 Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching
water;
 Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to
illness;
 Health systems are overwhelmed and national economies
suffer.

It's impossible to break the vicious cycle of poverty – and enable sustainable development –
without first addressing these issues.

The global water and sanitation situation

The good news is that, according to the World Health Organisation, since 1990, around 2 billion
people have gained access to an improved, sustainable source of water.
However, around 800 million people still live without safe drinking water.
What’s more, almost two-fifths of the world’s people lack access to sanitation. This means they
live in unclean environments where there isn’t a proper waste disposal system in place – and
disease is able to spread easily.

LEFT: In poor African communities the majority of illnesses are caused by waterborne diseases; CENTRE: Safe
disposal of human waste is vital in stopping the spread of disease; RIGHT: Children in Cambodia enjoy the benefits
of a clean water well and pump installed by World Vision in their community.
What are the benefits of safe water supply
and sanitation?
It is hard to overstate the benefits. When asked what would improve their lives the most, the
majority of people in developing countries prioritise access to clean water.
And for good reason. We know that clean water, along with decent sanitation and hygiene, are
very effective in reducing poverty. It can help save lives, drive economic growth, keep kids in
school and increase opportunities for women and girls.
In terms of investment, it’s also value for money. The World Health Organization estimates that
meeting the Sustainable Development Goal for water and sanitation would bring substantial
economic benefit: each $1 invested would create an economic return of between $3 and $34,
depending on the region.
And it would improve life for people of all ages.

 From the age of 0 to 4 years, child deaths may be reduced.

 From the age of 5 to 14 years, many more children,
especially girls, could go to school if they had adequate
drinking water and sanitation facilities. Children would be
more likely to escape poverty.
 From the age of 15 to 59 years, workers would have
increased productivity thanks to improved health and better
facilities.
 People older than 60 could expect to live longer.

What is World Vision doing about these

issues?
World Vision operates the largest privately funded rural water, sanitation and hygiene program
in the world. We reach one new person with clean water every 10 seconds. Since 2010, 12.5
million people have received access to clean water. And by 2020, we aim to bring clean water
and sanitation to almost 20 million people in 36 countries.
By improving access to safe water, and providing improved sanitation and hygiene education in
targeted communities, as well as promoting multiple-use water systems, World Vision expects
to see significant changes over a five-year period, including:

 Significant reduction in child deaths and sick days;

  Increase in school attendance, as safe water, latrines, and
hand-washing stations become more accessible to children
at school;
 Increased incomes through water-related, income-
generating activities.

Case study: Bulawayo

Long-term economic issues in Zimbabwe meant that by 2008, much of its water and sanitation
infrastructure had fallen into disrepair. With local authorities unable to mend the damage,
water-borne disease outbreaks were common.
Through an AusAID-funded project in Bulawayo, World Vision oversaw significant
improvements to the city's water and sanitation systems. It also addressed long-term issues,
working with local councils to ensure they would be in a better financial situation to maintain
these improvements.
In all, World Vision repaired nine sewerage pumping stations and cleaned over 250km of
sewerage infrastructure. The project managed to assist over 450,000 people and led to a 40
percent reduction in diarrhoeal diseases in all age groups.

https://www.worldvision.com.au/global-issues/work-we-do/climate-change/clean-water-sanitation
Children from
Lawaki village
in Tailevu
Province, Fiji
fill buckets
with water
from the river.
Though their
village tap is
functioning,
the water
pressure is
low to
accommodate
the needs of
all the
villagers.

Water is essential for the survival and development of all children. Without water, children simply cannot stay alive or
thrive in a healthy environment. Water resources, and the range of services they provide, strengthen poverty
reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability.

Water facts:

 663 million people are still without access to clean drinking water, despite the Millennium Development Goal
target for clean water being met in 2010.
 8 out of 10 people without access to clean water live in rural areas.
 159 million people use untreated water from lakes and rivers, the most unsafe water source there is.
 Since 1990, 2.6 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water and today, 91% of the world’s
population drink clean water.
Drinking water supply and water safety
Globally, the inequalities between those having access to water living in an urban area or rural areas have decreased
but large gaps remain. Eight out of ten people without access to safe drinking water live in rural areas and nearly half
of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. The most deprived are still using untreated surface waters like lakes and rivers.
Many of those deprived communities are located in remote hard to reach areas. Therefore, rural water supply will
remain a challenge for many national governments and their development partners in the coming decade.

Safety of drinking water is a growing concern in many parts of the world. Drinking water sources are increasingly
under threat from contamination, which impacts on not only on the health of children, but also on the economic,
environmental and social development of communities and nations.

Threats to drinking water quality include unsafe handling and storage at the household: water drawn from safe
sources may be contaminated by the time it reaches and is ultimately consumed in households.

In addition to this is the threat of contamination of water sources – both naturally occurring and from pollution. Water
contaminated with arsenic and fluoride threaten the health of millions in certain counties; water that has been in
contact with human feces is a major cause of disease, including diarrhea, which kills over 800 children a day.

In some areas of the world, the availability of water is scarce. Poor governance, environmental degradation, over-
extraction and climate change are further diminishing already scarce freshwater resources. UNICEF’s WASH
programme supports governments to prepare for and adapt to climate change and using innovative solutions, such
as solar power water pumps and rainwater harvesting, to reduce the impact of climate change on children and help
protect their future.

UNICEF’s work on water supply

Improving families’ access to safe, sustainable and affordable drinking water at reasonable distances from their home
is a key part of UNICEF’s efforts.
Increasing equitable access
To increase equitable access to drinking water UNICEF works on developing a market and a team of professional
low-cost drillers that can provide safe water to poor and marginalized communities. An important task is to find the
best and safest source for the water point. Groundwater is increasingly used for water supply and is often relatively
easy to access and is less likely to become contaminated than surface water.

But as groundwater is hidden underground (“out of site out of mind”) it is often poorly managed or understood. In fact,
it is often a fragile resource susceptible to over-extraction and once contaminated difficult to treat. UNICEF has
developed a series of Groundwater Programming Principles to ensure how to best site and develop a new water
point.

Manual Drilling Toolkit Explore the for technical information related codes of practices, studies, maps, videos and
more with the Manual Drilling Toolkit.

Improve reliable access

Over the years, UNICEF and partners have learned that reliable service access that delivers water that household’s
need for drinking, hygiene and cooking requires a broader engagement with communities, government and service
providers. This broader coalition helps build an enabling environment capable of operating and managing the drinking
water so it becomes a service. In most countries, institutional arrangements for water service delivery are in place:
policies, plans and institutions exist, but still, performance remains poor. In this context, accountability helps instill
responsibility and improve the relationships between the different service delivery stakeholders. UNICEF and the
UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI have partnered to improve accountability for service delivery including the
opportunity for communities to participate and have access to means to hold government and providers to account for
the reliability of their services. One important element is the use of mobile phones to report and monitor the
functionality of the water point.

Using safe drinking water

The best way to address contamination of drinking water is by preventing it from happening in the first place. Water
safety planning is an approach that helps communities and service providers understand and manage contamination
risks, and it is increasingly being applied to new and rehabilitated water points. Water safety planning also helps to
identify the necessary control measures communities can take to protect their water from becoming contaminated
from such things as poorly constructed or located toilets. Well-constructed toilets help prevent the contamination of
water supplies. Regular handwashing after defecation and before handling water minimizes the risk that dirty hands
contaminate water used in the home. For these reasons, UNICEF stresses sanitation and hygiene promotion as an
important line of defense for protecting drinking water from fecal contamination.

Household water treatment (for example chlorination or filtration), along with improved water storage and handling, is
another control measure to ensures safe water use inside the household, and is supported by UNICEF.

Arsenic and fluoride

For over a decade, UNICEF has worked closely with governments in countries where fluoride and arsenic are serious
problems, including Bangladesh, India, China, Vietnam and elsewhere. We support governments to systematically
monitor arsenic levels in drinking water; mark wells that should not be used for drinking or cooking; find low-cost
alternative, safe water supplies; and help change knowledge, attitudes and practices to protect vulnerable
populations from arsenic poisoning.

Assisting the government to collect reliable data on the status of arsenic in the country is another important aspect of
UNICEF’s assistance and the UNICEF-supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey is increasingly collecting global
data on arsenic in drinking water.

Climate resilient development

The effects of climate change are first felt through water: through droughts, floods and storms. These disasters can
wash away water supplies, or leave them contaminated, putting the lives of millions of children at risk. Many of the
regions most at risk of droughts and floods already have very low levels of access to water, and the 60 million
children living in these areas are extremely vulnerable. To tackle climate change UNICEF supports counties to
choose solutions that are more resistant to climate chance, such as solar power water pumps and increased storage
of water and harvest rainwater to bridge over dry spells. We also support governments with access to data for
decision making and prioritizing climate change adaptation on national WASH strategies and plans.
World Water Day is held on the 22nd of March every year. World Water Week is held from 28 August until 2
September.

RESOURCES:

Manual Drilling Toolkit

WASH Climate Resilient Development: Strategic Framework

Accountability in WASH: Explaining the Concept

Updated: 5 April 2016

https://www.unicef.org/wash/3942_4456.html
Team
Swachh
messaging,
signage and
banners on
display
during the
opening day
of ICC T20
World Cup
2016 date
09-03-2016.
In 2015, the
ICC Cricket
for Good
and UNICEF
launched a
five-year
global
partnership.
This
visionary
collaboration
aims to build
a social
movement
for
sanitation
and toilet
use, thereby
leading to
an open-
defecation
free India.

Sanitation is essential to the survival and development of children. Currently, there are 2.4 billion people worldwide
who do not use improved sanitation (a facility that safely separates human waste from human contact). 946 million
people go in the open, known as “open defecation”. While progress has been made to improve access to sanitation in
some parts of the world, millions of children in poor and rural areas have been left behind.

Key sanitation facts:

 1 in 3 people don’t use improved sanitation.

 1 in 7 people practice open defecation.
 Since 1990, 2.6 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.
 5 countries, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Pakistan, account for 75% of open defecation.
 We must double our current efforts in order to end open defecation by 2030.
Ending open defecation
Open defecation is when people go out in fields, , forests, open bodies of water, or other open spaces rather than
using a toilet. It is incredibly dangerous, as contact with human waste can cause diseases such as cholera, typhoid,
hepatitis, polio, diarrhea, worm infestation and under nutrition. Every day, over 800 children under five die from
diarrhea-related diseases.

Currently, 1 in 7 people, or 946 million people, practice open defecation. Of those who do, 9 out of 10 live in rural
areas. Globally, India has the largest number of people still defecating in the open: more than 564 million.
Not just toilets, but behavior
One of the biggest challenges to ending open defecation is not just providing clean and safe toilets, but changing the
behavior of entire communities. A large part of UNICEF’s work in ending open defecation is to generate awareness,
share information and to spur behavior change in an effort to bridge the gap between building toilets and their proper
use.

What is sanitation?
Sanitation is a comprehensive term and it means more than just toilets. Sanitation can be understood as interventions
that reduce human exposure to diseases by providing a clean environment in which to live. It involves both behaviors
and facilities, which work together to form a hygienic environment.

UNICEF’s work
UNICEF is working in countries around the world to improve sanitation and to advocate for government attention and
funding to key sanitation issues. We do this by creating a framework (known as a programme model) and supporting
governments and partners to implement the sanitation framework in their country.

UNICEF is also leading innovative solutions for sanitation. This involves improving sanitation technology, ensuring
basic toilets are affordable, accessible and that they meet criteria for safety, effectiveness, sustainability,
environmental impact and child-friendliness.

UNICEF fosters community-based approaches for sanitation, to empower communities to end open defecation
themselves. Communities are encouraged to carry out an analysis of existing defecation patterns and threats, and to
use local resources to build low-cost household toilets and ultimately eliminate the practice of open defecation. This
approach is often referred to as Community Approaches Total Sanitation (CATS) and has been particularly
successful in Cambodia and Zambia.

World Toilet Day is held on the 19th of November every year.

RESOURCES:
Supporting intersectoral approaches: Maximum child survival and development benefits are realized when hygiene,
sanitation and water programmes are coordinated or integrated with other sectoral programmes including education,
health and nutrition.

UNICEF WASH in Schools

Improving Nutrition Outcomes with Better Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Soap, Toilets and Taps

2017 UNICEF Field Notes on Community Approaches to Total Sanitation – Learning from five country programmes

Updated: 27 July 2017

https://www.unicef.org/wash/3942_43084.html
Impact of WASH
Children
say that
the water
pump is
everything
to them,
it’s like
their
“soul”.
Before
children
were
travelling
three
hours to
get water,
over
terrain so
rocky that
even
donkeys
struggled
to climb
the hills.
The
children
spent all
their time
travelling
to find
water,
and
therefore
were
unable to
go to
school.
Many of
the
children
were sick
too, often
having
bouts of
diarrhoea
as the
river they
travelled
to was
dirty.

All children have the right to clean water and basic sanitation, as stated in the Convention on the Rights of a Child.
The ultimate aim of UNICEF’s work in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is to ensure that all children fulfill this
right, and that no child is left behind.

Over the last 15 years, UNICEF has led a global effort to improve water, sanitation and hygiene conditions for millions
of people worldwide. In 2010, a full five years ahead of schedule, the target for water within Millennium Development
Goals was met. Today, 91% of the world’s population has access to clean drinking water and 68% use improved
sanitation (a facility that separates human waste from human contact).

However, development efforts made during the Millennium Development Goal era failed to reach millions of children
in poor and rural communities. As a result, massive inequalities exist between those with access to clean water and
basic toilets, and those without.

Today, 663 million people don’t have access to clean water; 2.4 billion people don’t have access to improved
sanitation and 946 million people defecate in the open. 7 out of 10 people without access to improved sanitation and
9 out of 10 people who have to go in the open live in rural areas.

The Sustainable Development Goals, a set of goals to guide global development to 2030, include a specific goal to
“ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. In the pursuit of this goal and
fulfilling the rights of children, UNICEF works to reach the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

RESOURCES:

Explore UNICEF’s work in water sanitation and hygiene

Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water 2015 Update

Annual Report

Updated: 10 April 2016

https://www.unicef.org/wash/3942_3953.html
Shushmita
Rani, 7,
washes
her face in
the
common
space her
family
shares
with nine
other
families.
Asked
what she
wants to
do when
she grows
up,
Shushmita
doesn’t
hesitate:
“As I grow
older I will
continue
studying. I
will study
a lot. Then
I will
become a
teacher
and teach
other
children
like me.”

Clean water, basic toilets and the practice of good hygiene are essential for human survival, and the foundation upon
which development begins. Improving access to these basic needs has a positive impact on the growth and
development of children and communities around the world.

WASH and health

Diseases related to water and sanitation are one of the major causes of death in children under five. Without access
to clean water and basic toilets, and without good hygiene practices, a child’s survival, growth and development are
at risk.

Over 800 children under age five die every day from preventable diarrhoea-related diseases caused by lack of
access to water, sanitation and hygiene. Undernutrition is associated with repeated diarrhoea or intestinal worm
infections as a direct result of inadequate WASH conditions. A vicious cycle exists between diarrhoea and
undernutrition, especially for children.

Children with diarrhoea eat less and are less able to absorb nutrients from their food; in turn, malnourishment makes
them more susceptible to diarrhoea when exposed to human waste. Poor sanitation and hygiene have also been
linked to stunting, which causes irreversible physical and cognitive damage. In 2014, 159 million children under five
were stunted: that’s 1 in 4 children worldwide.

Millions of other children are made sick, weakened or are disabled by other water- and sanitation-related diseases
and infections including cholera, malaria, trachoma, schistosomiasis, worm infestations and guinea worm disease.

WASH and education

Access to clean water and basic toilets, as well as good hygiene practices, play an important role in education.
 Many children — mostly girls — spend hours every day collecting water and miss out on the opportunity to attend
school. Globally, women and children spend around 200 million hours every day, collecting water. But the issue is not
just lack of access to water; lack of access to basic toilets, and gender segregated toilets, in schools cause a
multitude of issues. Adolescent girls are particularly affected by this, as they need a clean and private space to be
able to manage their menstrual hygiene with privacy and dignity.

WASH affects more than just the ability of children to attend school. many children suffer physical and cognitive
damage from water- and sanitation-related diseases that impact their performance at school and their overall
educational attainment.

WASH and economics

The impact of poor WASH conditions extends beyond health and education, and impacts on the economy through
health spending and labour division.

If we were able to provide basic, low cost water and sanitation facilities to countries in need, the world would save
around US$263 billion a year. If everyone in the world had access, the reduction in diarrhoea-related disease alone
would save $11.6 billion in health treatment costs, and would generate $5.6 billion in labour spending.

Updated: 18 April 2003

ShareThis

 RSS feed

 Printer friendly

 Email this article

Children need your help

Children worldwide need your help right now. Please donate what you can today.
DONATE NOW
https://www.unicef.org/wash/3942_statistics.html
Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation
for all
Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in and there is sufficient fresh
water on the planet to achieve this. However, due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, millions of people
including children die every year from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and
hygiene.

Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood
choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. At the current time, more than 2
billion people are living with the risk of reduced access to freshwater resources and by 2050, at least one in
four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water. Drought in
specific afflicts some of the world’s poorest countries, worsening hunger and malnutrition. Fortunately, there
has been great progress made in the past decade regarding drinking sources and sanitation, whereby over 90%
of the world’s population now has access to improved sources of drinking water.

To improve sanitation and access to drinking water, there needs to be increased investment in management of
freshwater ecosystems and sanitation facilities on a local level in several developing countries within Sub-
Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Southern Asia, Eastern Asia and South-Eastern Asia.

Facts and figures

Goal 6 targets
 

Links

 1 in 4 health care facilities lacks basic water services

 3 in 10 people lack access to safely managed drinking water services and 6 in 10 people
lack access to safely managed sanitation facilities.
 At least 892 million people continue to practice open defecation.
 Women and girls are responsible for water collection in 80 per cent of households
without access to water on premises.
 Between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of the global population using an improved
drinking water source has increased from 76 per cent to 90 per cent
 Water scarcity affects more than 40 per cent of the global population and is projected to
rise. Over 1.7 billion people are currently living in river basins where water use exceeds
recharge.
 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines
 More than 80 per cent of wastewater resulting from human activities is discharged into
rivers or sea without any pollution removal
 Each day, nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related
diarrheal diseases
 Approximately 70 per cent of all water abstracted from rivers, lakes and aquifers is used
for irrigation
 Floods and other water-related disasters account for 70 per cent of all deaths related to
natural disasters