Report - WASH in Schools : Mark Hereward

Schools are places where health and nutrition are nurtured and children develop lifelong healthy habits and behaviours. They should not be places where children fall sick with infection due to a lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene services. Yet according to the latest WHO/UNICEF JMP report, around the world, 546 million schoolchildren still lack a basic drinking water service at their school; 539 million schoolchildren don't have a basic toilet, and over 800 million schoolchildren lack basic facilities with soap and water to wash their hands.  © UNICEF/UN0527585/Sujan Schoolchildren in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and in fragile contexts are the most affected – one third of children without basic WASH services at their schools live in LDCs, and over half live in fragile contexts. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where over half of schoolchildren still lack a basic drinking water service. New data show that even fewer schools have disability-accessible WASH services. In half of the countries with national data available, less than a quarter of schools have disability-accessible toilets. Providing disability-accessible WASH services in schools is key to achieving inclusive learning for all children. Access the report Access the data Access the interactive dashboard We must ramp up progress if we are to meet the global target of achieving universal coverage of basic WASH services in schools by 2030. This will require a 14-fold increase in current rates of progress on basic drinking water, a 3-fold increase in progress on basic sanitation, and a 5-fold increase in progress on basic hygiene services. And we must ensure that children in LDCs and fragile contexts are prioritised. We can and must do better. Please share this email with your networks as appropriate. Mark Hereward Chief Data Officer Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring UNICEF