Water supply, sanitation and hygiene development

Around 1.1 billion people globally do not have access to improved water supply sources whereas 2.4 billion people do not have access to any type of improved sanitation facility. About 2 million people die every year due to diarrhoeal diseases, most of them are children less than 5 years of age. The most affected are the populations in developing countries, living in extreme conditions of poverty, normally peri-urban dwellers or rural inhabitants.

Among the main problems which are responsible for this situation are: lack of priority given to the sector, lack of financial resources, lack of sustainability of water supply and sanitation services, poor hygiene behaviours, and inadequate sanitation in public places including hospitals, health centres and schools. Providing access to sufficient quantities of safe water, the provision of facilities for a sanitary disposal of excreta, and introducing sound hygiene behaviours are of capital importance to reduce the burden of disease caused by these risk factors.

Topics

The work of WHO in this field covers the following topics:

• Operation and maintenance
• Environmental sanitation and hygiene development
• Healthy settings
• Environmental health in emergencies and disasters
• Water and sanitation on ships and aircrafts
• Household water treatment and safe storage

See also

• International Year of Sanitation 2008
• International health regulations