Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Safe water, sanitation and hygiene are vital for children’s health, dignity and learning. UNICEF works to improve inclusive, climate-resilient WASH services across Sierra Leone.
The challenges
For children, lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene can mean illness, missed school and loss of dignity. Many children in Sierra Leone still do not have access to reliable WASH services at home, in school or in health facilities, with the greatest gaps in underserved communities.
When WASH systems are inadequate or unreliable, children are more exposed to disease, girls may face additional barriers related to privacy, safety and menstrual hygiene, and families may spend more time and resources coping with preventable illness. Persistent financing gaps, shortages of skilled personnel, increasing climate risks and harmful social norms continue to slow progress.
• About 65 per cent of people have access to basic water services, leaving many families without safe and reliable water close to home.
• Only 23 per cent of people have access to basic sanitation services, and access to basic hygiene services remains critically low at 11.6 per cent.
• Many people know when and how to wash their hands, but far fewer are able to practise it consistently: handwashing knowledge is 92.5 per cent, while practice is only 9.6 per cent.
UNICEF contribution to the solution
UNICEF works with the Government and communities to improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene services, while strengthening WASH systems to be more climate-resilient and sustainable. This includes support for policies, service delivery, sanitation improvements, hygiene and behaviour change, and WASH services in schools, early childhood development centres and health facilities.
UNICEF also supports climate-resilient WASH programming in vulnerable communities, helping reduce risks from flooding, environmental degradation and other climate-related shocks. By linking infrastructure, behaviour change, disaster preparedness, community engagement and systems strengthening, UNICEF is helping build safer and healthier environments for children and families.
Through this work, UNICEF is helping Sierra Leone strengthen WASH systems that are safer, more inclusive, climate-resilient and sustainable, so that more children and families can access safe water, sanitation and hygiene services where they live, learn and receive care.