March 16, 2010
WHO/UNICEF report reveals lack of progress on sanitation
WaterAid responds to the JMP report - Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water: 2010 Update.
Safia, collecting water at the pond, Manzo, Alaba Woreda, Ethopia.
WaterAid / Caroline Irby
Published yesterday, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP)
report on sanitation and drinking water provides detailed estimates of
progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for water and sanitation.
It breaks down figures for access to sanitation and water by country, region and for rural and urban areas.
This year's report suggests that the world is on track to meet or
even exceed the MDG target for drinking water – to halve the proportion of
people without access to safe water by 2015.
However, it is not all roses. Firstly, much of this
progress is down to rapid improvements in East Asia, particularly
China, without which the target would still be off-track. Secondly, the overall
figures mask huge disparities within countries and between them.
Thirdly, even though we are on-track globally, nearly 900 million
people still live without access to safe drinking water.
The new report's figures suggest that, if
current rates of progress continue, the global sanitation goal will be
met 30 years too late – that’s a billion people too late.
Many of the poorest countries will still not have met the water
target by 2050 unless efforts are scaled up; sub-Saharan Africa in
particular is a long way indeed from a vision of clean water for
all. Furthermore, there are huge disparities even within countries
that are on track nationally, such as between urban and rural areas,
with rural areas usually having far lower access figures.
Aid that is given at present is not going to the poorest countries
where most people without access to safe water and sanitation live – in
fact only 32% goes to Low Income Countries where the need is greatest.
A key headline is that we are seriously off-track on the sanitation
MDG target, which is to halve the proportion of people without access
to sanitation by 2015. The new report's figures suggest that, if
current rates of progress continue, the global sanitation goal will be
met 30 years too late – that’s a billion people too late. Such a
failure is not an option, so global efforts on sanitation must be
rapidly scaled up to avoid this scenario.
Across the world, 2.6 billion people are still without access to a
safe place to go to the toilet. In the meantime, 4,000 children across
the world continue to die needlessly every day from
diseases caused by poor sanitation and unsafe water.
Sub-Saharan Africa needs particular focus. At the current rate of
progress, the sanitation target in that region will not be met for
nearly 200 years. This gives sanitation the dubious honor of being the
second most off-track MDG in Sub-Saharan Africa, with only maternal
mortality seeing slower progress.
This water and sanitation crisis is holding back improvements across
all other MDGs including education and maternal and child health,
affecting not only human development but also, crucially, economic
growth. To prevent other development efforts from being undermined, we
need world leaders to take firm action to reverse the global water and
sanitation crisis before it's too late.
On April 23, Ministers from around the world have the chance to do just that as the first
ever high level meeting on water and sanitation takes place in
Washington, DC – they simply must commit to delivering real progress
towards achieving sanitation and water for all.
