Thank you for contacting me about water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in developing countries and the report by UNICEF titled 'Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States: How the UK Government can tackle the water crisis'.
Safe water and adequate sanitation are basic human needs. It is a regrettable fact that for so many on our planet these needs remain unmet, particularly in developing and conflict-affected states. Indeed, as UNICEF reports, three billion people do not have a hand-washing facility with water and soap at home, in addition to almost half of all schools lacking such facilities, affecting some 818 million school-age children.
I am sure you will welcome, therefore, that improving access to WASH services, including in healthcare facilities, is a global health priority for the FCDO. It forms a core part of the UK's Ending Preventable Deaths of mothers, babies and children strategy, published in December 2021, and is critical to the FCDO's wider global health objectives.
I am proud of the UK's action on promoting safe water, sanitation and hygiene - or UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. Indeed, HM Government (HMG) pledged to provide 60 million people with improved water and sanitation between 2015 and 2020, and exceeded this target in August 2020, helping 62.6 million people access clean water and sanitation, of which 26.2 million were based in fragile states.
To deliver on such an ambitious target, HMG developed substantial bilateral WASH programmes and entered into a £57.3 million partnership with UNICEF to provide sustainable WASH services to 3.8 million people in ten countries, through the Sanitation, Water and Hygiene for the Rural Poor programme (2017-2022). The UK is now prioritising spend on hand hygiene as part of our approach to tackling Covid-19; strengthening the climate resilience of WASH services; and reinforcing accountability for the delivery of WASH services.
But around the world, women and girls are disproportionately impacted by inadequate WASH access. One of the most direct impacts is the burden of collecting water, which women and girls spend 200 million hours doing each day globally. These journeys can also place them at increased risk of gender-based violence, as does a lack of private and secure sanitation.
Rest assured, however, that making women and girls central to its approach to international development is a priority for HMG. Indeed, gender considerations have been incorporated into the design of the UK's WASH programmes. In addition, the FCDO's Ending Preventable Deaths Action Paper sets out how it will address the barriers to protecting the lives of mothers, babies and children – in which improving WASH worldwide plays a central role.]
The UK is also continuing to promote the importance of WASH through our membership of the "WASH In Healthcare Facilities" international taskforce, through bilateral programming such as our innovative hand hygiene partnership with Unilever, and through core multilateral funding, including to the World Bank and the World Health Organisation. This includes funding to the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, which tracks progress against water and sanitation global targets and supporting the Global Water Partnership to promote climate resilient WASH.
It is on account of the above that I am confident that HMG remains committed to improving access to WASH services globally.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.