World Water Forum in Dakar: UNICEF Highlights
UNICEF Call to Action
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UNICEF seized the great attention and mobilization around the 9th World Water Forum to call for urgent action to drastically accelerate progress on water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa, and greater investment for sanitation in Senegal
"This 9th World Water Forum gives us the opportunity to sound the alarm on the seriousness of the situation so that water-related issues remain at the heart of the international agenda.”
“Equitable access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene is not only the foundation of health and development for children and communities.
Water is life, water is development, water is peace”
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets on water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa will require a dramatic acceleration in the current rates of progress, according to a UNICEF/WHO special report focused on Africa, launched at the World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal. This special report calls for urgent action to be taken on a continent where water scarcity and weak sanitation and hygiene services can threaten peace and development. Read more
“Poor sanitation puts children at risk of childhood diseases and malnutrition that can impact their overall development, learning and, later in life, economic opportunities.”
UNICEF in Senegal seizes the great mobilization and attention around the 9th World Water Forum, to call for greater investment in sanitation in the country. According to the latest data (DHS-2017), only one in two households (49%) have improved toilets and more than 2.5 million people, especially in rural areas, still practice open defecation in the country. Read more
“Thanks to the implementation of the Community-led Total sanitation approach, a total of 1.8 million people from 4,300 villages have abandoned open defecation in Senegal”
"Access to water is fundamental and has an impact on the lives of young people. We, young people, need to be involved in negotiations such as the vote on national budgets on drinking water policy."
UNICEF brought together youth and adolescents from the Sahel region to discuss WASH- and climate-related issues that affect them and engage a dialogue with policy makers. Read more
