Article
Fast facts: Water, sanitation and hygiene in conflict
All children have the right to safe drinking water and sanitation. These resources are as critical to a child’s survival as food, medical care, and protection. However, from the State of Palestine to Ukraine, to Yemen and beyond, protracted crises and conflict are depriving children of these rights. In fragile co...
Article
Water under fire
The right to safe drinking water and sanitation is rooted in the Convention on the Rights of the Child , United Nations resolutions and the Geneva conventions. It is a right that is as critical to the survival of children as food, medical care, and protection from attack. But from State of Palestine to Ukraine, to...
Document
Water crisis in the Horn of Africa
For children in the Horn of Africa, water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource.The region is in its third consecutive year of below-average rainfall, and is now experiencing the impacts of one of the worst climate-induced emergencies of the past 40 years. The protracted drought has led to a water crisis, wi...
Report
The Measurement and Monitoring of Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Affordability
Universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, a human right enshrined in the 2030 Global Goals, will not be reached unless its affordability is addressed and monitored, according to a new report. This report, led by UNICEF and WHO with contributions from an extensive expert group of internationa...
Document
Programmatic approaches to water scarcity
This Guidance Note explores the drivers of water scarcity, and outlines programme principles and programmatic actions to guide WASH programming to help ensure water security for children and their families, with suggested actions at global, regional, national and local levels. Underlying this is the understanding that programmes can no longer continue as ‘business as usual’; urgent interventions are required, creating opportunities to react to ch...
Article
“Water makes us beautiful”
DIALANGOU, Mali –, A sizeable crowd has gathered near the school in Dialangou village, and for a very good reason: water is flowing out of a brand-new pump. Clean water is a rare resource in these parts. Here in the Mopti region of Mali, the weather has become extreme, with droughts alternating with flooding at in...
Document
Global Framework for Urban Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
The world is rapidly urbanising, swelling impoverished urban settlement populations – exacerbating exclusion and inequality in access to WASH services for the poorest and most marginalised children and their families. As of 2018 an estimated 4.2 billion people, or 55 per cent of the global population, were living ...
Article
Improving access to safe water in southern Madagascar
Using scientific methodologies and satellite imagery to find water resources
Article
Turning on the tap in Madagascar
BELOHA, Madagascar –, “Water, water…this is real water,” says Beamby, a resident of Marovato village in southern Madagascar. He left his home early in the morning and walked an hour to Beloha to witness the opening of a new 180-kilometre-long water pipeline. Water has become a rare and precious resource in this ...
Report
WASH in health care facilities
This report is the first comprehensive global assessment of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health care facilities. It finds that one in five health centres has no sanitation service – meaning unimproved toilets or no toilets at all – and that many centres lack basic services for handwashing hygiene and sa...
Article
Where getting water means putting your life on the line
BAKHMUTKA, Ukraine –, Before 2014, the people of Bakhmutka in eastern Ukraine could not have known that their children would be forced to travel to school through a conflict zone, that they’d need to collect water from a well, or that they would have to run to their basements at night to take shelter from shelling...
Photo essay
In South Sudan, off-grid communities turn to solar power for clean water
In countries like South Sudan, access to clean water is crucial for survival in the dry season. In the rainy season, clean water helps keep the community safe from diseases like cholera. A solar-powered water system in Yambio has transformed water access for children and families in the remote town. By using solar...