Achieving the UN’s SDG 6 as a means to control the COVID-19 pandemics in Brazil

ABSTRACT

Sanitation involves social, economic and environmental dimensions of Sustainable Development and influences the dissemination of diseases. Access to quality water and sanitation is fundamental for good standards of living, so it was defined by the United Nations as the Sustainable Development Goal 6, to be globally achieved by 2030. This goal is of special importance during the COVID-19 pandemic as recent studies identified long survival rates of the virus in human excrements and wastewater. However, data from the UN indicates that around 1.8 billion people worldwide consume fecally contaminated water, mostly in developing nations. Using publicly available data from scientific papers, national censuses and reports, the present research assessed the current access to quality water and sanitation in Brazil and related it to the spread of COVID-19. We conclude that the poor sanitary conditions in most developing nations enhance their vulnerability to the new coronavirus due to high contamination risks. We present and analyze some initiatives in Brazil that aim to address such issues. This study highlights the need for urgent and creative solutions to achieve the SDG 6, especially in developing countries, improving the quality of life and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and other diseases. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.