As we all confront the coronavirus pandemic, you can’t turn on the news without hearing about handwashing. But how do families wash their hands when clean water is miles away? Around the world, 40% of people lack access to basic handwashing facilities at home, and 780 million people do not have access to a quality water source.
World Water Day, marked each year on March 22, is an opportunity to think about the vital importance of water and those who lack it and to take action. Without a reliable source of water, basic sanitation and hygiene are nearly impossible, putting people at greater risk for poor health and diseases like coronavirus, diarrhea, and cholera. For communities already battling hunger, the effects can be devastating.
Lack of access to water also puts women and girls at greater risk: When water is not available at home, women and girls are responsible for collecting it 80% of the time. Often, this means they make long and sometimes dangerous trips to the nearest water point.
Some key facts about water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH):
— 1 in 3 people lack safe drinking water.
— 4.2 billion people do not have access to safely managed sanitation services.
— Poor WASH conditions are a leading cause of childhood stunting, or chronic malnutrition.
— Unsafe drinking water, inadequate availability of water for hygiene, and lack of access to sanitation together contribute to about 88% of deaths from diarrheal diseases.
Ensuring access to clean water, safe sanitation, and good hygiene goes hand-in-hand with efforts to improve health and nutrition. When clean water is guaranteed, communities are healthier and more resilient.
Without clean water, illnesses like diarrhea, intestinal parasites, and chronic inflammation of the intestines are common and can prevent children from absorbing key nutrients and make them more susceptible to other health issues. For all of these reasons, we focus on water and sanitation as we prevent and treat malnutrition.
Coronavirus is growing rapidly in developing countries, including in sub-Saharan Africa. It has reached countries where many people already face life-threatening malnutrition. We know that children who are undernourished are more susceptible to disease for example, the risk of child mortality increases by 15 times if they develop pneumonia, another respiratory disease.
Washing your hands with soap for 30 seconds is a crucial way to prevent the spread of disease, including the coronavirus. This pandemic is a stark reminder of the challenges that poor families face around the world, especially in the growing number of areas where access to water is limited. Our ongoing health, nutrition, sanitation and hygiene programs serve as a first line of defense in many communities.
Our research teams are identifying important ways to encourage handwashing and healthy habits; we are looking at what factors motivate people to wash their hands, especially where water is limited. For example, in Ethiopia, one of our studies is investigating whether adding mirrors or nicer soap at handwashing stations encourages people to wash more frequently. In some countries, like South Sudan, if access to clean water is impossible, we have observed that families rub ash on their hands, which is better than not washing hands at all. All of these lessons will be vital as we look for ways to contain the spread of coronavirus in resource-poor settings.
2020 OCHA