Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The Asia-Pacific region faces the challenge of having 369 million people without access to basic sanitation services and 163 million people lacking access to basic drinking water. UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) has been working in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in 26 countries in the region with the intent of helping countries reach Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which targets universal and equitable water, sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030.  This report provides a summary of the progress, major WASH results achieved, and lessons learned in the East Asia and Pacific Region in 2020. It also provides a brief financial analysis as well as a narrative on challenges that the region faces— dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the report offers a look into the WASH programme in 2021 and what the future of WASH must look like in order for us to meet national goals as well as the SDGs.

This global progress report on water, sanitation, hygiene, waste management and cleaning (WASH) in health care facilities comes at an unprecedented moment, when coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is exposing key vulnerabilities in health systems, such as inadequate infection prevention and control. WASH services in health care facilities, so often taken for granted – or as this report highlights, outright neglected – are needed more than ever to protect vulnerable health workers and patients. The report identifies major global gaps in WASH services: one third of health care facilities do not have what is needed to clean hands where care is provided; one in four facilities lack basic water services, and one in 10 have no sanitation services.