The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of the Month in November 2019 is Clean Water and Sanitation.
Today 1 in 3 people around the world lack safe drinking water. Nearly as many of them drink from a water source contaminated with faeces. Many more lack safe sanitation, including 3 billion people around the world who don’t have basic hand-washing facilities at home.
Yet, universal access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation could reduce the global disease burden by 10 per cent and is considered the most cost effective health intervention.
In November, we explore how water and sanitation remain at the core of sustainable development, affecting not just our health but also significantly influencing socio-economic development, peace and security, inequalities and the wellbeing of our ecosystems.
For more information on water, please visit https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/
This article was originally published by the United Nations in November 2019. Image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com.