Water, sanitation and hygiene

August 2024, Takeo – In a newborn care unit, tiny breaths matter, and every second counts. When newborns struggle to breathe on their own, getting them the oxygen they need in time can mean the difference between life and death.  Until last month, Kirivong Referral Hospital in rural Takeo province, which sits on the Cambodian border with Vietnam,…

11 July 2024, Kratie – Newborn Nika wails sharply as a nurse skillfully punctures her tiny heel at Snoul Referral Hospital in Cambodia's eastern Kratie Province. A single drop of blood, no larger than a pinhead, holds the key to determining potential signs of jaundice, a common condition that turns newborns' skin and eyes yellow. Her mother, Run…

Deputy Executive Director, Partnerships visit in Cambodia This week I visited Cambodia, and it could not have come at a ‘hotter’ time, in the most literal sense of the word, because the temperatures in Siem Reap was almost 7°C above average. As I was leaving, the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology recorded the highest temperatures since…

1 March 2024, Kratie – When he was only four months old, little Phanha was always falling sick. At the time his family were among the 16 per cent of rural Cambodians still practising open defecation, which can contaminate drinking water and spread deadly diseases like diarrhoea [1] . Without a latrine at home, they would need to walk a hundred…

7 March 2024, Ratanakiri – “Before we got the latrine, I would get sick easily,” says 13-year-old Koun Chanthom, a Grade 4 student from Ratanakiri. She was often absent from school because of illness. Although she knew how important good hygiene is for her health, because her family didn’t have a proper toilet at home, she found it hard to keep…

5 December 2023, Ratanakiri – For 11-year-old Srey Nov, washing her hands has never been easier. Until recently, she and her friends had to manually pump water from the school’s well, fill a water bucket, and carry it to their classroom. Now, all they have to do is turn on a tap. She knows how important it is for her health, so she makes sure to…

With the regional collaboration between the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) Australia and UNICEF, the Solar Market Assessment for Cambodia was finalized in January 2024 to promote climate-resilient social services in the country.  This assessment/investment case estimates the number of Health Care Facilities (including water supply), Schools (including water supply), and water systems for rural communities that are currently off-grid and the costs associated with providing them with stand-alone solar-powered systems. According to the report, providing the 242 healthcare facilities across the country with stand-alone solar-powered systems and water pumping would require an investment of $8 million. The estimated 2,813 education facilities would require an investment of $78 million to reach full electrification, including solar water pumping for the facilities and their neighboring populations. Irrespective of whether a facility exists within a community, providing the estimated 3 million people currently living in rural areas who would benefit from solar water pumping access with those systems, an investment of $25 million is required. The environmental benefit of achieving universal electricity access for these facilities, along with water pumping over the lifetime of the project could result in the reduction of 732,401 tons of CO2 equivalent.   The report also suggests possible solutions and management approaches to ensure long-term sustainability.

27 September 2023, Kratie province – Leat Sotheara, a Grade 11 student at Sandan High School in Kratie province, knows she has a big role to play as a role model for younger children in her school and community. Lately, she’s been doing her bit by picking up good hygiene habits and making sure to keep their school environment clean. “The well-…

As part of responding to the challenges of climate change and the impacts of climate hazards particularly on the WASH sector, UNICEF Cambodia has organized a four-day multistakeholder participatory workshop to analyse the key climate risks to climate resilient WASH service delivery with participation from key government partners working on WASH and Climate in Cambodia, academic institutions, NGOs and young professionals. The main objectives of this workshop were i) to understand how climate change is affecting water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) subsectors; and to ii) develop action plans that include specific activities aimed at adapting to and reduce the impact of the identified climate risks. This workshop report presents all the steps and process taken during the workshop, stakeholders mapping, the climate risk assessment on WASH services in Cambodia, the response framework, and detailed action plan by sub-sector (rural water supply, urban water supply, rural sanitation, and WASH in institutions), which implemented will lead to more climate resilient WASH service delivery. The process used the risk assessment methodology of the GWP and UNICEF Strategic Framework for WASH Climate Resilient Development. This methodology is based on a step-by-step participatory assessment procedure, aimed at involving government planners, decision-makers, practitioners, and other stakeholders responsible for and engaged in WASH service delivery in Cambodia. The methodology set out the rationale and concepts for WASH climate resilient development, as well as improve understanding of how to ensure that climate resilience is considered in WASH strategies, plans and approaches.

This document provides evidence for embedding climate-related risks and vulnerabilities to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in policymaking and programming in Cambodia. Based on the best available data, and through a multi-stakeholder consultation with WASH and climate experts (government, development partners, NGOs, academic institutions, and young professionals), it presents the climate rationale for a WASH sector response. The observed and projected impacts of climate change on the delivery of WASH services are first articulated with a solid analysis, and then linked to a set of technical and non-technical climate adaptation and mitigation solutions that the sector should prioritize. The document intends to assist policymakers, donors and practitioners in the WASH and related sectors to achieve climate-resilient WASH services.

PHNOM PENH/BEIJING, 29 August – Delegates from the People's Republic of China, UNICEF Cambodia and UNICEF China today started a three-day field visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia to conduct a feasibility study for piloting climate-resilient water and sanitation (WASH) technologies and solutions in Cambodia. In collaboration with the Ministry of…

When the COVID-19 pandemic upended the livelihoods of Cambodian workers in Thailand, hundreds of thousands of migrants were forced to return home. Upon their arrival in Cambodia, however, they were met with another crisis just beyond the border. Limited water, sanitation and hygiene facilities and supplies at Thai-Cambodia points of entry (PoEs),…