Towards better monitoring: taking drinking water equity, safety and sustainability into account

While current figures indicate that access to improved drinking water has increased from 77 per cent to 87 per cent between 1990 and 2008, the real percentage of people with sustainable access to safe drinking water is likely to be significantly lower. This is one of the conclusions of a new report [1] that the UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) released on 20 December 2011.

If the maximum acceptable time needed to collect water is taken as 30 minutes per round trip, then drinking water coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa drops by eight percentage points, the report says. Similarly, if you include water quality as an indicator, then the 2008 JMP estimates of access to safe drinking water would go down by 16% for Nicaragua, 11% for Ethiopia, 10% for Nigeria and 7% for Tajikistan.

The new report analyses existing JMP statistics in more detail and includes increased disaggregation of water service levels and analyses of trends across countries and regions. It focuses on the three key challenges of equity, safety and sustainability. Disparities in terms of geography, wealth and gender are explored, as well as the role of household water treatment and safe storage in water safety, and the unique threats posed by climate change to the sustainability in rural and urban contexts.

National and global monitoring will require a major evolution, concludes the report, to meet demands for targets and indicators that take equity, safety and sustainability into account.

[1] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP), 2011. Drinking water equity, safety and sustainability. (JMP thematic report on drinking water ; 2011). New York, NY, UNICEF ; Geneva, World Health Organization. 62 p. : 40 fig., 2 tab. 23 ref. <Available at: http://www.unicef.org/media/files/JMP_Report_DrinkingWater_2011.pdf>

Related news:

• Monitoring: new tools meet demand for more transparency in the water sector, E-Source, 05 Dec 2011
• Angelica de Jesus, First consultation on developing post-2015 monitoring indicators, Berlin: Refocusing the monitoring approach, E-Source, 02 Aug 2011

Related web site: WHO / UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation – http://www.wssinfo.org/

Source: UNICEF, 20 Dec 2011

“Clean hands save lives” — Global Handwashing Day 2011 is celebrated by millions of people worldwide

Millions of people across the globe celebrated the 4th annual Global Handwashing Day on 15 October 2011, emphasizing the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective, simple, and affordable way to prevent disease.

UNICEF Pakistan launches ‘Sabu’

Over 1 million children took part in Pakistan, where UNICEF supported the launch of a new animated children’s character, ‘Sabu’, to help teach children the importance of handwashing with soap.

Celebrations in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Peru, India

In Afghanistan, 1.7 million children from 1,700 schools washed hands; in Eritrea, 326,809 children in 1,272 schools did the same. In Peru, the government declared a national handwashing week as of 10 October, and events involved 3.5 million students in 20,000 schools. In India, eight million children in Rajasthan and all 154,000 schools in Uttar Pradesh participated in handwashing events (listen to Head of UNICEF’s hand washing campaign Lizette Burgers on UN Radio).

UN Secretary-General launches the “Sustainable Sanitation: Five-Year Drive to 2015”

United Nations, 21 June 2011—UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, along with UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, Ugandan Minister of Water & Environment the Hon. Maria Mutagamba, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, today launched the “Sustainable Sanitation: Five-Year Drive to 2015” (http://www.sanitationdrive2015.org), a push to speed up progress on the Millennium Development Goal target of improving global sanitation by 2015.

The launch took place at United Nations Headquarters in New York, with members of the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation and other dignitaries in attendance.

Aid for sanitation and water going down from 8 to 5 percent of development spending

Aid commitments for sanitation and water fell from 8% of total development aid to 5% between 1997 and 2008, lower than commitments for health, education, transport, energy and agriculture, according to the latest UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report, launched by UN-Water and the World Health Organization (WHO).  This drop occurred despite compelling evidence that achieving the water and sanitation target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would lower health-care costs, increase school attendance and boost productivity.

The findings from the UN-Water GLAAS report were tabled at the first annual High Level Meeting of Sanitation and Water for All, hosted by UNICEF on 23 April 2010 in Washington, DC. The High Level Meeting provided a forum for Ministers of Finance from developing countries, accompanied by Ministers responsible for sanitation and water from 20 developing countries, and representatives from 12 donor countries to gain a greater understanding of the linkages between water, sanitation, and economic growth, in order to commit the appropriate resources, as well as to promote a culture of mutual accountability, partnership and shared responsibility.

Related web site: UN-Water - Sanitation and Water for All – A Global Framework for Action

Source: Source Weekly, 07 May 2010

UNICEF/WHO – Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done

Despite the existence of inexpensive and efficient means of treatment, diarrhoea kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined, according to a report issued today by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The report, titled Diarrhoea: Why Children Are Still Dying and What Can Be Done (PDF),  includes information on the causes of diarrhoea, data on access to means of prevention and treatment, and a seven-point plan to reduce diarrhoea deaths.  “It is a tragedy that diarrhoea, which is little more than an inconvenience in the developed world, kills an estimated 1.5 million children each year,” said UNICEF Executive Director, Ann M. Veneman.

“Inexpensive and effective treatments for diarrhoea exist, but in developing countries only 39 per cent of children with diarrhoea receive the recommended treatment.” Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, said:  “We know where children are dying of diarrhoea. We know what must be done to prevent those deaths.  We must work with governments and partners to put this seven-point plan into action.”  Diarrhoea is a common symptom of gastrointestinal infection, which can have a variety of sources.

However just a handful of organisms are responsible for most acute cases of diarrhoea and one,  Rotavirus, is responsible for more than 40 per cent of all diarrhoea-related hospital admissions of children under five. A new vaccine for Rotavirus has been found to be safe and effective but is still largely unavailable in most developing countries. Though most episodes of childhood diarrhoea are mild, acute cases can lead to significant fluid loss and dehydration. This dehydration can lead to death unless fluids are quickly replaced. Oral rehydration therapy is the cornerstone of fluid replacement and the new low-osmolarity formula of oral rehydration salts (ORS) is a simple, inexpensive and life-saving remedy that prevents dehydration in children suffering diarrhoea.

Some 88 percent of diarrhoeal deaths worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. As of 2006, an estimated 2.5 billion people around the world were not using adequate sanitation facilities, and about 1 in 4 people in developing countries practiced open defecation.  Access to clean water and good hygiene practices are extremely effective in preventing childhood diarrhoea.  Hand washing with soap has been shown to reduce the incidence of diarrhoeal disease by over 40 per cent, making it one of the most cost-effective interventions for reducing child deaths caused by this neglected killer.

October 15 is annual Global Handwashing Day when millions of children and adults in over 80 countries will take part in activities to highlight this key intervention.  The overall health and nutrition of children is also critical to their susceptibility to diarrhoea and the damage it can cause.  Undernourished children are at higher risk of suffering more frequent, severe and prolonged episodes of diarrhoea, and repeated bouts of diarrhoea also place children at greater risk of worsening nutritional status.

The seven point plan to save the lives of children stricken by diarrhoea includes two treatment and five prevention elements.

The two treatment elements are:

1. fluid replacement to prevent dehydration; and
2. zinc treatments, which decrease the severity and duration of the attack.

The five prevention elements are:

1. immunization against rotavirus and measles;
2. early and exclusive breastfeeding and vitamin A supplementation;
3. handwashing with soap;
4. improved water supply quantity and quality; and
5. promoting community-wide sanitation.

Campaigns targeting childhood diarrhoea in the 1970s and 1980s achieved success by educating caregivers and scaling up oral rehydration therapy to prevent dehydration. The campaigns delivered promising results but following that success, focus shifted to other health problems. There is now an urgent need to shift attention and resources back to treating and preventing diarrhoea.

Johansson, E.M. … [et al.] (2009). Diarrhoea : why children are still dying and what can be done. New York, NY, USA, UNICEF and Geneva, Switzerland, World Health Organization. v, 58 p. ISBN 978-92-806-4462-3 (UNICEF). ISBN 978-92-4-159841-5 (WHO). Full report

There is also an online version of the report on 7pointplan.org

Related web sites:

• WHO – Diarrhoea
• Rehydration Project

UNICEF TV Video: Diarrhoea is the second leading killer of children

Source: UNICEF, 14 Oct 2009

Global Handwashing Day 2009: Spread the word, not the germs

Next Thursday, 15 October 2009, marks the second annual Global Handwashing Day, which millions of children and adults will celebrate with special activities in over 80 countries.

Handwashing with soap and water is one of the most affordable and effective interventions to prevent needless deaths of children under the age of five. It helps reduces diarrhoea-related deaths by more than 40 per cent and cases of acute respiratory disease by about 25 per cent.

The promotion of handwashing with soap is also a key strategy for controlling the spread of the H1N1 virus – another major focus of the planned events in many countries on 15 October.

‘Clean hands save lives’

Meanwhile, the popular Australian children’s entertainers, The Wiggles, have once again partnered with UNICEF to raise awareness about the importance of handwashing with soap.

And children themselves play a central role in spreading the word instead of the germs. Under the slogan ‘Clean hands save lives,’ Global Handwashing Day 2009 will honour schoolchildren as effective communicators and agents of change, who learn good hygiene practices at school and take them back into their homes and communities.

Events around the world

In 2008 over 80 countries participated in handwashing day activities, with about 200 million children washing their hands with soap and water at public events. Activities ranged from school assemblies and contests to government outreach programmes, SMS text messaging campaigns, photo exhibits and celebrity appearances.

Global Handwashing Day 2009 is being celebrated with renewed enthusiasm. Japan, Guatemala and Mali are preparing educational programmes, demonstrations and performances. Nepal is promoting a handwashing song to be played during its annual Teej Festival. Côte d’Ivoire is training restaurant workers on handwashing techniques and prevention of H1N1. See an updated list on the official Global Handwashing Day web site.

The annual observance was launched in 2008 as an initiative of the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap. It is endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, private companies and individuals worldwide.

As a contribution to Global Handwashing Day, the IRC/USAID Sanitation Updates news feed is having a Handwashing Slogan Contest.

In a related development, UNICEF and the World Health Organization will release a new report on 14 October focusing on the prevention and treatment of diarrhoeal diseases as a central factor in improving child survival.

Watch the public service announcement starring the popular Australian children’s entertainers, The Wiggles, promoting Global Handwashing Day 2009, below

Source: UNICEF, 09 Oct 2009

New UN-Water pilot report on sanitation and drinking water presented at the UN High Level Event on the MDGs

The Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) is a UN-Water pilot initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO). UN-Water GLAAS constitutes a new approach to reporting on progress in the sanitation and drinking-water sectors that aims to strengthen evidence-based policy-making towards and beyond the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

UN-Water GLAAS complements other UN-Water reports, such as the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation or the World Water Development Report, by concentrating on the factors affecting the capacity of countries and external support agencies to progress towards the sanitation and drinking-water MDG target.

The purpose of the GLAAS pilot report is to present the concept of a possible global, periodic, comprehensive reporting mechanism to inform policy-making in the sanitation and drinking-water sectors. The GLAAS pilot report does not draw conclusions on the sector status, but it is meant to stimulate discussion on how to improve reporting on the sanitation and drinking-water sectors.
To download the report or for further information, please visit www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/glaas or www.unwater.org.