World Health Organization
منظمة الصحة العالمية
Organisation mondiale de la Santé

Regional progress on drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and Sustainable Development Goal baselines

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30 July 2017 – While 87% of people in the Eastern Mediterranean Region have access to basic drinking-water and 73% have access to basic sanitation, such services are not necessarily safely managed as per Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets 6.1 and 6.2.

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene has been the official source for the United Nations reporting on national, regional and global progress since 1990. The JMP recently published a report, Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and Sustainable Development Goal baselines. The report presents the first global assessment of “safely managed” drinking water and sanitation services. 

Access to safely managed drinking-water services (SDG 6.1) 

Access to safely managed sanitation services (SDG 6.2)

Access to basic hygiene

Good hygiene is one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent the spread of disease. For the first time, the SDGs are monitoring the percentage of people who have facilities to wash their hands at home with soap and water. 

Urban rural inequalities remain

There are inequalities in service between urban and rural areas. People living in rural areas are more likely to use untreated surface water (from lakes, rivers or irrigation channels) than those living in urban areas. For example, the reported use of surface water in Somalia is 19% in rural areas as opposed to 1% in urban areas. Similarly, almost all of the people who practice open defecation in the region live in rural areas.

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Water, sanitation, hygiene