Some 60 ministers responsible for finance, sanitation and hygiene portfolios from over 30 developing countries will participate in the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) High Level Meeting on 20 April at the World Bank in Washington, DC. Their aim is to agree on urgent action towards ensuring that access to sanitation and safe drinking water becomes a reality for the billions of people who still live without them.
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Countries with confirmed Ministerial representation at the High Level Meeting
Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote’dIvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Indonesia, Kenya, Lao PDR, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Country Statements and Sanitation and Water Profiles are available at: www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/hlm2012virtualbriefingpack.html
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“The dream of universal access to sanitation and water is within our reach, but it will require a tremendous increase in political will, adequate resources and coordinated efforts to get us there,” said His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, former president of Ghana and newly appointed Chair of the SWA partnership who will lead the Washington meeting.
The SWA meeting, convened by Anthony Lake, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), comes against the backdrop of an announcement in March by UNICEF and the World Health Organization that the world had met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) overall target for access to safe drinking water in 2010, but that 783 million people were still missing out.
The UN report also said that the target for access to improved sanitation, calling for 75 per cent of the world to be covered, will not be met by 2015. At current rates of progress, not until 2026 would 75 per cent of the global population have access, and even then would leave a quarter of the world without improved sanitation.
The SWA Partnership notes that even though the drinking water MDG target has been met, the remaining 783 million people still without access are the hardest to reach, being mostly poor people living in rural areas or urban slums. Access to improved drinking water sources masks huge inequities, with regional disparities, and with coverage within countries varying according to geography, wealth and individual status. Women, children, the disabled and other marginalized persons are particularly affected.
The SWA partnership says the picture for sanitation is particularly bleak. Of all the targets in the eight MDGs that relate to improved health, sanitation is the most off-track. At current rates of progress it would take sub-Saharan Africa, for example, another 200 years to achieve the coverage for sanitation aimed at in the MDGs.
The group says there is a growing body of economic evidence that poor sanitation has a significant negative impact on the financial coffers of many developing countries. A 2011 World Bank study, for example, shows that India alone loses US$ 53.8 billion annually due to poor sanitation and hygiene. The economic cost from poor sanitation can be up to seven per cent of GDP in some countries, including costs related to premature deaths as well as losses in industry, tourism and health-related productivity.
The Partnership emphasizes that the efforts of the governments, donors and agencies must address both water and sanitation with equal vigour, and should target funds for sanitation and water so that the poorest countries receive greater support, and their institutional and technical capacities are strengthened.
The ministers meeting in Washington and the SWA partners are hoping that the 2012 meeting will build upon the success of the first High Level Meeting in 2010, which was a catalyst for increasing resources and efforts in water and sanitation at the national and international levels. Since then, nine countries have confirmed that they are meeting their commitments of increased budget allocations, and seven donors have met or exceeded the targets they set for funding. An increasing number of innovative solutions are being developed to overcome institutional barriers and provide aid to the poorest countries.
The April 20 SWA meeting will get commitments from individual governments, and the partnership as a whole, to target of funds for water and sanitation to where they are most needed, and ensure that national plans are developed to reach the un-served populations in each country.
More Information and Resources
The High Level Meeting “Virtual Briefing Packs”, which include Country Statements and Sanitation and Water Profiles, are available at www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/hlm2012virtualbriefingpack.html.
Posted by WSSCC on behalf of the Sanitation and Water for All Secretariat.
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His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of Ghana (2001-2009) and former Chairperson of the African Union (2007–2008), will be the first high-level Chair of the Sanitation and Water for All partnership. Kufuor is a passionate global advocate for leadership, governance and development. He is widely regarded for his African and international statesmanship, and his contributions have been recognized through awards such as the 2011 World Food Prize.
