GLAAS Report 2022

• 15 Dec 2022

For Prelims: GLAAS 2022 Report, World Health Organization, climate change, WASH Strategy

For Mains: Access to water and sanitation and related issues

Why 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.

What is UN-Water?

• UN-Water coordinates the United Nations’ work on water and sanitation. UN-Water is a ‘coordination mechanism’.
• It is composed of United Nations entities (Members) and international organizations (Partners) working on water and sanitation issues.
• UN-Water’s role is to ensure that Members and Partners’ deliver as one’ in response to water-related challenges.

What is the GLAAS Report?

• The UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) 2022 report compiles new data on drinking-Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) from 121 countries and territories and 23 External Support Agencies (ESAs).
• It serves as a global reference to inform commitments, priority-setting and actions during the second half of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and for the 2023 Conference for the Midterm Comprehensive Review of Implementation of the United Nations Decade for Action on Water and Sanitation (2018–2028) (UN 2023 Water Conference).
• The report also highlights opportunities to accelerate progress in key WASH areas that positively affect the quality and sustainability of WASH services and delivery, pandemic preparedness and resilience to climate change.

What are the Highlights of the Report?

• Human Resource:
  • Less than one-third of countries reported maintaining enough human resources to manage essential Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) tasks.
• National Coverage Targets:
  • 45% of countries are on track to meet their drinking-water coverage targets, but only 25% are meeting their sanitation targets.
    • More acceleration is needed to achieve national targets.
• Finance:
  • While WASH budgets in some countries have increased, a significant portion — more than 75% of them — reported having inadequate resources to carry out their WASH plans and objectives.
• Climate Resilience of WASH Systems:
  • Most WASH policies and plans do not consider climate change threats to WASH services, nor do they take the climate resilience of WASH technology and management systems into account
  • 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.
• External Support:
  • Aid for water and sanitation decreased by 5.6% between 2017 and 2020, and the geographical targeting of the aid shifted.
  • In sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of WASH aid dropped from 32% to 23%, while in Central and Southern Asia, it increased from 12% to 20%, and in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, it increased from 11% to 20%.

What is WASH?

• WASH is an acronym that stands for the interrelated areas of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) WASH Strategy has been developed in response to Member State Resolution (WHA 64.4) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG 3: Good Health and Well Being, SDG 6: Clean Water And Sanitation).
• It is a component of WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work 2019–2023 which aims to contribute to the health of three billion through multisectoral actions like better emergency preparedness and response; and one billion with Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
• It also takes on board the need for progressive realization of the human rights to safe drinking-water and sanitation, adopted by the UN General Assembly in July 2010.

Way Forward

• Leaving no one Behind:
  • Governments must target underserved populations and settings – such as people living in poverty or in remote or hard-to-reach areas – to ensure they also have access to safe, sustainable WASH services.
  • Local participation is a way to ensure no one is left behind.
    • Strengthening community participation is fundamental to adapt and sustain SDG 6 solutions to local community contexts.
• Gender:
  • Increased inclusion, financial support and monitoring are needed to ensure women are considered in WASH decisions and services Gender and WASH are connected in many ways – from menstrual health and hygiene to local participation and women working in WASH.
• Increasing Investment:
  • Governments and development partners need to strengthen WASH systems and dramatically increase investment to extend access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation services to all by 2030, beginning with the most vulnerable.

Source: DTE