Development Issues: Health, Women, Children

Programme Summary

This global alliance to provide safe water, sanitation, and hygiene was formed by "concerned individuals and organisations that wish to make a difference in alleviating the suffering and improving the health of the world's poor". Despite modern medical advances, some 1.1 billion people worldwide have no access to a safe water supply; 2.4 billion people have no access to adequate sanitation facilities. Diarrhoea resulting from poor sanitation and hygiene is responsible for the death of more than two million impoverished children each year. Providing access to sanitation facilities, though relatively inexpensive, will halve the death toll. Despite laudable achievements by the sector during the International Decade for Water Supply and Sanitation (1981-1990) to meet these basic needs, there remains a tremendous backlog in terms of the billions of unserved people.

Mandated by a United Nations resolution in 1990 to maintain the momentum of the International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade, the mission of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) is "to accelerate the achievement of sustainable water, sanitation and waste management services to all people, with special attention to the unserved poor, by enhancing collaboration among developing countries and external support agencies and through concerted action programmes."

The WASH - Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene for All - campaign aims to raise the commitment of political and social leaders to achieving these goals and effecting the necessary behavioural changes through information and communication channels like traditional and mass media, hygiene promotion in schools, training and building local capacity in communications, and improving networking and research. A special focus of WASH is providing more equitable and affordable services with priority given to the poor, particularly women and children, who suffer the heaviest burden of poverty and sicknesses like cholera due to inadequate sanitation in many developing countries. The campaign is also grounded in the belief that sound hygiene behaviour must be recognised as a separate issue in its own right, with adequate sanitation and clean water as supporting components.

The campaign was launched during the International Conference on Freshwater in Bonn, where the Minister of Health joined the Chair of the WSSCC and other officials in a "handwashing" ceremony. This symbolized the fact that the simple, hygienic act of handwashing with water, or even ash, after going to the toilet, can cut diseases by one third and save many lives from diarrhoea and other preventable diseases.

Summary of ICT Initiatives

WASH activities focus on advocating sanitation, hygiene and safe water practices, promoting appropriate technologies such as rainwater harvesting and other people-centred initiatives, and through holding public rallies, debates and multi-stakeholder dialogues, signing petitions, staging exhibitions, competitions, folk theatre presentations and other public awareness activities, as well as interpersonal communication.

Another emphasis of the campaign is the organisation of activities for collating, distilling, and abstracting science-based knowledge for wider audiences beyond technical professionals. Information about people's own initiatives and field experiences, as well as innovative practices by communities in finding solutions to sanitation-related problems, is collected and exchanged.

One of the key advocacy tools for the campaign will be a "People's Report" on sanitation and hygiene to be published by the Collaborative Council and its partners as a contribution to the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2002.

WASH also works to build collaborations across sectors and disciplines, like the media. Strategies to partner with the media include outreach and regular contacts with journalists and their associations, press conferences and briefings, internet-based media, dissemination of materials, co-productions on video news releases, radio and TV documentaries, and training of both experts and journalists to engender responsible and accurate coverage of water and sanitation issues.

They have recently produced a guidebook for journalists and members of the media entitled, “A Guide to Investigating One of the Biggest Scandals of the Last 50 years,” [click here for the PDF]in an attempt to direct more attention towards this pressing problem. They have also developed the following “hygiene Code” with which to guide attempts at rectifying this wholly unnecessary problem.

This hygiene code represents a massive communications challenge in which the media has a key role to play.

The HYGIENE CODE

1. All faeces should be disposed of safely. Using a toilet or latrine is the best way.
2. All family members, including children, need to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water or ash and water after contact with faeces, before touching food, and before feeding children.
3. Washing the face with soap and water every day helps to prevent eye infections.
4. Water should be drawn from a safe source if at all possible. Water containers need to be kept covered to keep the water clean.
5. Raw or leftover food can be dangerous. Raw food should be washed or cooked. Cooked food should be eaten without delay or thoroughly reheated.
6. Food, utensils and food preparation surfaces should be kept clean. Food should be stored in covered containers.
7. Safe disposal of all household refuse helps prevent illness.

Source:WSSCC site.

For More Information Contact:

Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council

20 Avenue Appia

CH-1211, Geneva 27

Switzerland

Tel.: +41 22 791-3517/3544

Fax. +41 22 791 4847

wsscc@who.ch

In New York: Ms. Eirah Gorre-Dale

Communications and External Relations Manager, WSSCC

c/o UN DESA, Water, Natural Resources and SIDS Branch

Division for Sustainable Development DC2-2018

New York, NY 10017

Tel.: +1(917) 327-2420

Cell: +1(914) 309-5491

Fax: +1(917) 327-3391

gorre-dale@un.org

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