Why WELL?

Progress towards the overarching aim of poverty alleviation will be assessed through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), their associated targets and indicators. The current situation for access to water and sanitation is appalling. 1.2 billion people are without adequate water supply, and 2.4 billion lack access to an improved latrine. The target for 2015 is to halve the number of people in this situation. Crucially, improvements to water, sanitation and environmental health have enormous impacts on peoples’ lives in a whole variety of ways. Consider the following:

Poverty and hunger: A lack of water, unsafe sanitation and pollution are key links in the cycle of disease, malnutrition and poverty.
Universal primary education: Children suffering from diarrhoeal diseases have reduced learning capacity. Adolescent girls often stay away from school unless there are female only latrines.
Gender equality: Women suffer the indignity, health impacts and security risks caused by a lack of private sanitation and washing facilities, and often bear the burden of carrying water and caring for the sick.
Child mortality: Diarrhoea causes 2 million deaths per year mostly among children.
Maternal health: A healthy pregnancy and hygienic labour practices reduce the risk of maternal illness. Effective handwashing is simple, yet has a significant impact.
Disease: Of the global burden of disease, 23% is a result of poor environmental health, three quarters of which is attributable to diarrhoea – itself primarily a consequence of poor sanitation.
Environmental sustainability: Improvements to sanitation, drainage, and solid waste management combat urban environmental degradation caused through rapid urbanisation.

Appropriate and adequate excreta management and water supply lie at the heart of these issues, although other aspects of environmental sanitation, for example solid waste management, drainage and insect vector control, also have important health implications. Research has also emphasised the critical role of hygiene behaviour, such as handwashing before handling food, in the success or failure of broader environmental health interventions.

These improvements to water supply, sanitation and hygiene will only be achieved through mobilising resources at the national and local levels. This will in turn require local capacity to be strengthened in order to address the huge challenges ahead.

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