Accelerating professionalized water supply and sanitation services through capacity building including in regulation for dramatic improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene in communities and health care facilities
World Health Organization
(
United Nations / Multilateral body
)
#SDGAction50919
Description
This initiative is a multi-partner collaboration led by WHO to promote human-health related risk management approaches by:
• Strengthening the capacity of water and sanitation regulators to support professionalized service delivery through the WHO International Network of Drinking-water and Sanitation Regulators (RegNet), and
• Accelerating efforts to improve WASH in Health Care Facilities, including through WASH-FIT
Unless progress quadruples, according to the WHO UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, billions of people around the world will be unable to access safely managed household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services in 2030. In addition, half of health care facilities worldwide lack basic hygiene services with water and soap or alcohol-based hand rub where patients receive care and at toilets in these facilities.
Regulations are a powerful tool that can be used to improve safe drinking-water and sanitation service delivery. In the absence of regulations, accountability and liability may be compromised, leading to increased risks to public health that may go undetected among consumers until outbreaks of water-borne diseases occur. Even when in place, regulations are not always used to their full potential and best advantage to maximize public health benefits and to ensure sustained, affordable service delivery meeting agreed service levels. WHO will continue to support capacity on health protective water and sanitation service delivery, working with utilities, municipalities and their development partners (i.e. through water and sanitation safety planning) in addition to accelerated action on regulation via RegNet.
Risk management approaches such as water and sanitation safety planning, and tools such as WASH FIT for improving and sustaining services in health care facilities and water and sanitation sanitary inspection forms, are well-proven and offer even more potential for scaling up. As identified in the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework, “capacity development, monitoring and evaluation are essential for improving service levels, operating and maintaining technology, increasing job creation in the water sector, and monitoring performance, including at community level.”
As a guiding principle, Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) considerations will be integrated within the commitment initiative.
This initiative will rely on the network of WHO and partner country offices and their stakeholders, including at ministries of health and WASH, and other in-country NGOs/INGOs to deliver tailored professional training and outreach to community members in practical, useful elements of the risk management approaches. This would include conducting training and building a cadre of regulators to conduct sanitary inspections for small drinking water systems, use sanitation inspection forms for different types of toilets, and supporting health facility staff, particularly female ones, to improve and sustain WASH, waste management and environmental cleaning approaches for primary health care facilities, which serve largely women and children. Efforts will also support strengthening budgets, financing and investments in women and child appropriate WASH services to ensure that training and regulatory efforts bear fruit. In general, the initiative will complement efforts to progressively achieve professionalized services by working with governments and influencing policies to support a diverse, paid workforce as well as mechanisms which make training institutionalized and sustainable.
The commitment will support:
• Drinking water and sanitation regulators develop improved capacities to develop, implement, monitor and/or enforce a set of specific rules to ensure drinking water safety and safe management of the sanitation chain, to protect public health.
• Risk-based quality improvement (WASH-FIT, WSP, SSP) are implemented and monitored, with demonstrated service level improvements across countries
• Improved public health outcomes, such as reduced incidence of water-borne diseases and improved access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
UN System Partners, including UNICEF, Development Banks, Civil Society
SDGS & Targets
Goal 3
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
3.1
3.1.1
Maternal mortality ratio
3.1.2
Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel
3.2
3.2.1
Under-five mortality rate
3.2.2
Neonatal mortality rate
3.3
By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases
3.3.1
Number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population, by sex, age and key populations
3.3.2
Tuberculosis incidence per 100,000 population
3.3.3
Malaria incidence per 1,000 population
3.3.4
Hepatitis B incidence per 100,000 population
3.3.5
Number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases
3.4
3.4.1
Mortality rate attributed to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease
3.4.2
Suicide mortality rate
3.5
Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol
3.5.1
Coverage of treatment interventions (pharmacological, psychosocial and rehabilitation and aftercare services) for substance use disorders
3.5.2
Alcohol per capita consumption (aged 15 years and older) within a calendar year in litres of pure alcohol
3.6
3.6.1
Death rate due to road traffic injuries
3.7
By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes
3.7.1
Proportion of women of reproductive age (aged 15-49 years) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods
3.7.2
Adolescent birth rate (aged 10-14 years; aged 15-19 years) per 1,000 women in that age group
3.8
Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all
3.8.1
Coverage of essential health services
3.8.2
Proportion of population with large household expenditures on health as a share of total household expenditure or income
3.9
3.9.1
Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution
3.9.2
Mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, unsafe sanitation and lack of hygiene (exposure to unsafe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All (WASH) services)
3.9.3
Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisoning
3.a
3.a.1
Age-standardized prevalence of current tobacco use among persons aged 15 years and older
3.b
Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and non-communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries, provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in accordance with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which affirms the right of developing countries to use to the full the provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights regarding flexibilities to protect public health, and, in particular, provide access to medicines for all
3.b.1
Proportion of the target population covered by all vaccines included in their national programme
3.b.2
3.b.3
Proportion of health facilities that have a core set of relevant essential medicines available and affordable on a sustainable basis
3.c
3.c.1
Health worker density and distribution
3.d
Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks
3.d.1
International Health Regulations (IHR) capacity and health emergency preparedness
3.d.2
Percentage of bloodstream infections due to selected antimicrobial-resistant organisms
Goal 5
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
5.1
End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
5.1.1
Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non‑discrimination on the basis of sex
5.2
5.2.1
Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age
5.2.2
Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence
5.3
5.3.1
Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18
5.3.2
Proportion of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, by age
5.4
Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate
5.4.1
Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location
5.5
Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
5.5.1
Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments
5.5.2
Proportion of women in managerial positions
5.6
Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences
5.6.1
Proportion of women aged 15-49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care
5.6.2
Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education
5.a
Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws
5.a.1
(a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure
5.a.2
Proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control
5.b
5.b.1
Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex
5.c
Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels
5.c.1
Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment
Goal 6
Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
6.1
By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
6.1.1
Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services
6.2
By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations
6.2.1
Proportion of population using (a) safely managed sanitation services and (b) a hand-washing facility with soap and water
6.3
By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally
6.3.1
Proportion of domestic and industrial wastewater flows safely treated
6.3.2
Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality
6.4
6.4.1
Change in water-use efficiency over time
6.4.2
Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources
6.5
By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate
6.5.1
Degree of integrated water resources management
6.5.2
Proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation
6.6
6.6.1
Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time
6.a
6.a.1
Amount of water- and sanitation-related official development assistance that is part of a government-coordinated spending plan
6.b
Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management
6.b.1
Proportion of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management
SDG 14 targets covered
Deliverables & Timeline
Resources mobilized
Partnership Progress
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Entity
Region
- Global
Other beneficiaries
WASH and Health Ministries, national and regional WASH service providers and regulatory authorities, health care practitioners, community members
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Countries
Contact Information
Bruce, Head, Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Unit