WHO
1
Statement to Ministers ' closed session of the Commission for Sustainable
Development 13
LEE Jong-wook, Director-General, World Health Organization
As the United Nations agency for health, the World Health Organization (WHO) has
constitutional responsibilities and obligations in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene.
These are reflected in its areas of work and its organizational structure.
I would like to highlight WHO's contributions to the formulation and implementation of
the water and sanitation policies of the Commission for Sustainable Development:
Millennium Development Goals
WHO has engaged systematically with the efforts to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. Its Health and Development Department directs the Organization's
efforts in this area. As a core activity, WHO is supporting National Sustainable
Development Strategies that support health, especially those aimed at reducing health
inequalities resulting from environmental and social determinants. These include water
resources management, and drinking-water supply and sanitation.
Over the last two years we have reoriented our activities towards developing tools for
practical water sector planning. This work includes monitoring access to water and
sanitation, evaluating policy options and technical alternatives; and assessing health
impact and health risk management in water resources development.
Rights-based approaches
Investment in the most disadvantaged populations is both morally necessary and
practically beneficial to household and national economies.
WHO took a significant initiative to increase the adoption of a rights-based approach at
the 3rd World Water Forum. Our concerns two years later are to see how such an
approach assists us in provid ing practical concepts and tools and in accelerating
implementation.
Integrated Water Resources Management
WHO has always recognized the linkages between water resources and health. Therefore
Integrated Water Resources Management is a key aspect of our work. For example,
schistosomiasis is closely associated with irrigated agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. It
contributes significantly to the burden of ill- health and poverty on that continent, severely
2
affecting 200 million people. Yet it can be readily controlled through a combination of
improved sanitation, hygiene education and better irrigation practices.
The management of increasingly scarce water resources raises new health issues.
Wastewater use in agriculture and desalination to produce drinking-water are two areas in
which WHO is now updating and finalizing guidance on safe practices. Health and water
conservation interests are also often closely aligned: reducing losses from drinking-water
systems reduces contamination, conserves a scarce resource and increases the economic
viability of supply systems.
Around the world, women play a key role in the management of natural resources,
including water resources. Improving their capacity to include health considerations in
this role will benefit both the protection of the resource base and the promotion of human
health.
Monitoring
In relation to internationally coordinated monitoring, we recognize the importance of
high quality information to inform policy-making and to review progress. We are
committed to two major programmes: the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme
focused on MDG target 10 on drinking- water supply and sanitation; and the World Water
Development Reports, both undertaken under the aegis of UN-Water.
WHO and UNICEF, working with many partners inside and outside the UN system,
implement the Joint Monitoring Programme, a mechanism for assessing progress on
access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation. We are proud of the progress that this
programme has made over recent years, especially in improving the quality of the
information produced, by using household surveys. At the same time, we are well aware
of its limitations and are committed to progressively improving it. This means increasing
the emphasis on national monitoring, and expanding its scope to give more prominence to
the "safe" part of the MDG target.
We will also contribute to improving the coordination among donors in the water sector
at national level, through the increased emphasis on country-level support of the Joint
Monitoring Programme. However, country- level coordination is best facilitated through
the mechanisms of the multilateral system, so we are focusing on improving the overall
coordination of activities through UN-Water.
One of our priorities in WHO has been to increase our work on sanitation. This has
included action to support the institutionalization at national level of norms and tools for
monitoring, and to assess the costs and impacts of policy alternatives. At the international
level, sanitation falls under the mandate of UN-Water. We therefore fully support the call
for UN-Water to give equal priority to sanitation in its Plan of Work and its Terms of
Reference.
3
Sanitation
Sanitation matters because health and the environment depend on it; because managing it
poorly affects especially the poor; because investing in sanitation is effective (as
demonstrated by the WHO/Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) study
presented at the Panel of Ministers of Finance); and because achieving the sanitation part
of the MDG target lags behind so badly. At the present rate of progress the number of
people covered will fall short by up to half a billion.
Sanitation is complicated. In many urban areas sewerage systems are a necessity - and we
have heard a great deal here about the need for sewage treatment to protect health and
environment. For several years we have worked closely with UNEP and other partners in
the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from
Land-based Activities. We were pleased to see this referred to in the Chair's summary of
the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting.
Achieving real progress on sanitation means building up the scale and effectiveness of
investments by all actors. Donors should be encouraged to support investment in
sanitation and hygiene systematically, both because of the high returns in health and
development; and because of the lack of progress towards the MDG target.
Finally, one of WHO's key normative roles is to provide guidance and support to nationa l
and local authorities. These authorities include legislators and regulators who help to
ensure that health concerns are taken into account in planning water resources, by
requiring health impact assessment s.
Conclusion
Health is a cross-cutting concern for water resources, drinking- water supply, sanitation
and human settlements. It is a determining feature of poverty and a primary rationale for
the Millennium Declaration. It provides indicators for where efforts will yield the best
results.
The efforts of WHO and those of its many UN and non-UN partners remain focused on
assisting countries with monitoring and evaluation; with assessing the costs and impacts
of policy and technical alternatives; with building capacity to optimize the health benefits
of investing in water and sanitation; and with obtaining and using the available
information and experience on how to move ahead.
Statement to Ministers ' closed session of the Commission for Sustainable
Development 13
LEE Jong-wook, Director-General, World Health Organization
As the United Nations agency for health, the World Health Organization (WHO) has
constitutional responsibilities and obligations in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene.
These are reflected in its areas of work and its organizational structure.
I would like to highlight WHO's contributions to the formulation and implementation of
the water and sanitation policies of the Commission for Sustainable Development:
Millennium Development Goals
WHO has engaged systematically with the efforts to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. Its Health and Development Department directs the Organization's
efforts in this area. As a core activity, WHO is supporting National Sustainable
Development Strategies that support health, especially those aimed at reducing health
inequalities resulting from environmental and social determinants. These include water
resources management, and drinking-water supply and sanitation.
Over the last two years we have reoriented our activities towards developing tools for
practical water sector planning. This work includes monitoring access to water and
sanitation, evaluating policy options and technical alternatives; and assessing health
impact and health risk management in water resources development.
Rights-based approaches
Investment in the most disadvantaged populations is both morally necessary and
practically beneficial to household and national economies.
WHO took a significant initiative to increase the adoption of a rights-based approach at
the 3rd World Water Forum. Our concerns two years later are to see how such an
approach assists us in provid ing practical concepts and tools and in accelerating
implementation.
Integrated Water Resources Management
WHO has always recognized the linkages between water resources and health. Therefore
Integrated Water Resources Management is a key aspect of our work. For example,
schistosomiasis is closely associated with irrigated agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. It
contributes significantly to the burden of ill- health and poverty on that continent, severely
2
affecting 200 million people. Yet it can be readily controlled through a combination of
improved sanitation, hygiene education and better irrigation practices.
The management of increasingly scarce water resources raises new health issues.
Wastewater use in agriculture and desalination to produce drinking-water are two areas in
which WHO is now updating and finalizing guidance on safe practices. Health and water
conservation interests are also often closely aligned: reducing losses from drinking-water
systems reduces contamination, conserves a scarce resource and increases the economic
viability of supply systems.
Around the world, women play a key role in the management of natural resources,
including water resources. Improving their capacity to include health considerations in
this role will benefit both the protection of the resource base and the promotion of human
health.
Monitoring
In relation to internationally coordinated monitoring, we recognize the importance of
high quality information to inform policy-making and to review progress. We are
committed to two major programmes: the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme
focused on MDG target 10 on drinking- water supply and sanitation; and the World Water
Development Reports, both undertaken under the aegis of UN-Water.
WHO and UNICEF, working with many partners inside and outside the UN system,
implement the Joint Monitoring Programme, a mechanism for assessing progress on
access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation. We are proud of the progress that this
programme has made over recent years, especially in improving the quality of the
information produced, by using household surveys. At the same time, we are well aware
of its limitations and are committed to progressively improving it. This means increasing
the emphasis on national monitoring, and expanding its scope to give more prominence to
the "safe" part of the MDG target.
We will also contribute to improving the coordination among donors in the water sector
at national level, through the increased emphasis on country-level support of the Joint
Monitoring Programme. However, country- level coordination is best facilitated through
the mechanisms of the multilateral system, so we are focusing on improving the overall
coordination of activities through UN-Water.
One of our priorities in WHO has been to increase our work on sanitation. This has
included action to support the institutionalization at national level of norms and tools for
monitoring, and to assess the costs and impacts of policy alternatives. At the international
level, sanitation falls under the mandate of UN-Water. We therefore fully support the call
for UN-Water to give equal priority to sanitation in its Plan of Work and its Terms of
Reference.
3
Sanitation
Sanitation matters because health and the environment depend on it; because managing it
poorly affects especially the poor; because investing in sanitation is effective (as
demonstrated by the WHO/Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) study
presented at the Panel of Ministers of Finance); and because achieving the sanitation part
of the MDG target lags behind so badly. At the present rate of progress the number of
people covered will fall short by up to half a billion.
Sanitation is complicated. In many urban areas sewerage systems are a necessity - and we
have heard a great deal here about the need for sewage treatment to protect health and
environment. For several years we have worked closely with UNEP and other partners in
the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from
Land-based Activities. We were pleased to see this referred to in the Chair's summary of
the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting.
Achieving real progress on sanitation means building up the scale and effectiveness of
investments by all actors. Donors should be encouraged to support investment in
sanitation and hygiene systematically, both because of the high returns in health and
development; and because of the lack of progress towards the MDG target.
Finally, one of WHO's key normative roles is to provide guidance and support to nationa l
and local authorities. These authorities include legislators and regulators who help to
ensure that health concerns are taken into account in planning water resources, by
requiring health impact assessment s.
Conclusion
Health is a cross-cutting concern for water resources, drinking- water supply, sanitation
and human settlements. It is a determining feature of poverty and a primary rationale for
the Millennium Declaration. It provides indicators for where efforts will yield the best
results.
The efforts of WHO and those of its many UN and non-UN partners remain focused on
assisting countries with monitoring and evaluation; with assessing the costs and impacts
of policy and technical alternatives; with building capacity to optimize the health benefits
of investing in water and sanitation; and with obtaining and using the available
information and experience on how to move ahead.
Stakeholders