The first annual High-Level Meeting of Sanitation and Water for All, hosted by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), took place on 23 April 2010, in Washington, DC, US. The event provided a forum for ministers of finance from developing countries, accompanied by ministers responsible for sanitation and water, to meet with representatives from donor countries and gain a greater understanding of the linkages between water, sanitation and economic growth. During the meeting, the findings from the UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report were presented. These include that over 2.6 billion people live without access to improved sanitation facilities, and nearly 900 million people are not receiving their drinking water from improved water sources. These findings highlight where efforts stagnate in achieving Millennium Development Goal Target 7.C, which calls for –reducing by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. It also highlights the post-2015 challenges that need to be addressed by the UN system to collectively support its member States. GLASS is a UN-Water initiative implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO) that aims to provide policy makers at all levels with a reliable, easily accessible, comprehensive and global analysis of the evidence to make informed decisions in sanitation and drinking water.
Link to further information
UN-Water update, April 2010