{"id":3187,"date":"2022-12-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/16-12-2022\/global-analysis-and-assessment-of-sanitation-and-drinking-water-glaas-report\/"},"modified":"2022-12-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T00:00:00","slug":"global-analysis-and-assessment-of-sanitation-and-drinking-water-glaas-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-12-2022\/global-analysis-and-assessment-of-sanitation-and-drinking-water-glaas-report","title":{"rendered":"Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:\"Book Antiqua\",serif\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Recently, the Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report was released by the <\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>World Health Organization (WHO) and UN-Water<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:\"Book Antiqua\",serif\"><strong>Key Findings<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>WASH:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">The increasing frequency and intensity of climate-related extreme weather events continue to impact universal access to safe and sustainably managed water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Less than one-third of countries reported maintaining enough human resources to manage essential WASH tasks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Poor access to WASH claims millions of lives each year.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">SDG 6:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">In many countries, progress must be accelerated to meet United Nations-mandated (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) six \u2014 ensuring universal access to water and sanitation by 2030.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>National Water Targets:<\/strong><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">While 45 percent of countries are on track to achieve their nationally-defined drinking-water coverage targets, only 25 percent of countries are on track to achieve their national sanitation targets.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Better performing countries are more likely to have:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:square\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Higher utilization of domestic capital commitments and recovery of operations and maintenance (O&#038;M) costs from tariffs;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:square\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Regulatory authorities that carry out key regulatory functions;\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:square\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Human and financial resources in place to implement their WASH plans.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>WASH and health:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Implementation of policies and plans on WASH in health care facilities and on hand hygiene is constrained by a critical lack of financial and human resources.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has also provided a reminder of the importance of hand hygiene to health and infection prevention.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>Climate resilience of WASH systems:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events caused by climate change continue to hamper the delivery of safe WASH services, thus affecting the health of users.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) identifying the impacts of climate change as the biggest health threat facing humanity, the latest GLAAS data show that most WASH policies and plans do not address risks of climate change to WASH services, nor the climate resilience of WASH technologies and management systems.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>Leaving no one behind:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Measures to reach vulnerable populations and settings with WASH services lack monitoring and financial resources.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">The governments must target underserved populations and settings \u2013 such as people living in poverty or in remote or hard-to-reach areas \u2013 to ensure they also have access to safe, sustainable WASH services.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>Human resources:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Insufficient human resources are limiting WASH service delivery\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Less than one third of countries reported they have more than 75% of the human resources needed to carry out key functions to deliver WASH services.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Human resources are limited by workers not wanting to live or work in rural areas and insufficient financial resources.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Over 80% of countries reported having an insufficient supply of trained professionals graduating annually from WASH training institutions that meet the needs for on-site sanitation and small drinking-water systems.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>Gender:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Increased inclusion, financial support and monitoring are needed to ensure women are considered in WASH decisions and services\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Gender and WASH are connected in many ways \u2013 from menstrual health and hygiene to local participation and women working in WASH.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">In almost a quarter of countries, women hold less than 10% of government jobs, and less than a third of countries reported high women\u2019s participation in rural drinking-water planning and management.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">This means that women\u2019s voices are not being heard.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>Regulation:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Regulatory authorities often do not fully perform their functions\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">A majority of countries have regulatory authorities for drinking-water and sanitation; however, those authorities often do not fully perform their functions, especially for sanitation.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">These key functions range from collecting data and publishing reports to strengthening service providers by recommending planning and actions and enforcing the implementation of the recommendations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Climate:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">The increasing frequency and intensity of climate-related extreme weather events continue to hamper the delivery of safe WASH services.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Nearly two-thirds of countries have WASH strategies that target communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate change. However, only approximately a third track advancement or specifically finance these populations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"margin-left:17px\">\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"border-collapse:collapse; border:none; width:607px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color:#fff2cc; border-bottom:1px solid #000000; border-left:1px solid #000000; border-right:1px solid #000000; border-top:1px solid #000000; vertical-align:top; width:607px\">\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:\"Book Antiqua\",serif\"><strong>About GLAAS Report<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>Published by:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"> the World Health Organisation and UN Water on Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WaSH).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">The report provides the most up-to-date information on WASH systems in more than 120 countries and 23 external support agencies (ESAs), making it the biggest data collection ever.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">It provides <\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>policy- and decision-makers<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"> at all levels with reliable, easily accessible, comprehensive data on WASH systems, including on governance, monitoring, human resources and finance.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">It monitors elements of WASH systems that are required to sustain and extend WASH services and systems to all, and especially to the most vulnerable population groups.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:\"Book Antiqua\",serif\"><strong>The WASH vision and mission<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">The attainment by all peoples of the lowest possible burden of water and sanitation-related disease through primary prevention, as guided by the 2018-2025 WASH Strategy..<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Providing leadership in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene related issues (by making authoritative statements, influencing policy and coordinating networks of partners and collaborating centres)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Normative work (mainly on water quality, but also on monitoring approaches and interventions, usually resulting in guidelines and best practice texts)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Providing evidence (through various monitoring activities, but also through commissioned research)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Supporting Member States (through technical cooperation and capacity building)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Responding to emergencies (the role in the Health Cluster &#8211; WASH in healthcare &#8211; and in the WASH cluster &#8211; restoring safe water supplies and adequate sanitation)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Knowledge management (through analysis, synthesis and dissemination of reliable and credible information)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:\"Book Antiqua\",serif\"><strong>Issues<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Most WASH policies and plans <\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>do not consider climate change threats <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">to WASH services, nor do they take the climate resilience of WASH technology and management systems into account.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Billions of people are <\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>dangerously exposed to infectious diseases<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">, especially in the aftermath of disasters, including climate change-related events.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">While WASH budgets in some countries have increased, a significant portion \u2014 more than 75 percent of them \u2014 reported having <\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>inadequate resources to carry out their WASH plans<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"> and objectives.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Data is not sufficiently used in decisions on planning or resource allocation for WASH. Barriers to data use include <\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>lack of human and financial resources<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">, fragmentation of data collection and processing, poor reliability and quality of data, and lack of coordination of WASH actors in collecting and sharing data.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:\"Book Antiqua\",serif\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Urgent action is required at <\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>global and local levels <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">to ensure universal access to WASH in order to avert catastrophic effects of infectious diseases on health of millions of people<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Governments and development partners should <\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>strengthen WASH systems and dramatically increase investment<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"> to extend access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation services to all by 2030, beginning with the most vulnerable.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">WASH must be seen through a<\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong> gender lens<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">. Policies and action plans must respond to the needs of women and girls by involving them in the planning, decision-making and governance of services.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>Hand hygiene<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"> must be recognized as a fundamental behaviour. The transformative health benefits of improved water and sanitation services can only be fully realized when good hand hygiene behaviours are practised. This simple act is proven to dramatically reduce the spread of deadly diseases.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">Governments must take a <\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><strong>human rights-based approach (HRBA) to water and sanitation<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\">. States are duty-bearers of providing water and sanitation services to people, who are rights-holders. Rights-holders can claim their rights and duty-bearers must guarantee the rights to water and sanitation equally and without discrimination.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:\"Book Antiqua\",serif\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:\"Book Antiqua\",serif\">: <\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/news\/water\/extreme-weather-events-continue-to-hamper-access-to-potable-water-sanitation-urgent-action-needed-who-86550\" style=\"text-decoration-line:none\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:\"Book Antiqua\",serif\"><span style=\"color:#1155cc\">DTE<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News Recently, the Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report was released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN-Water. Key Findings WASH:\u00a0 The increasing frequency and intensity of climate-related extreme weather events continue to impact universal access to safe and sustainably managed water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Less than one-third [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-3187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs-2"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/7357052962218D1C2BEA-B42D-44CA-AC90-12BFBC61D8CC.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}