Sanitation progress slows to a crawl amid pandemic

ABSTRACT

Speed read COVID-19 upped demand for water, sanitation and hygiene facilities But progress has been slow, before and since the pandemic began Data collection on WASH access is key to gaining ground, say experts Progress towards universal access to handwashing facilities has slowed in communities from Latin America to Sub-Saharan Africa amid the pandemic, data analysis reveals. According to the UN children’s agency UNICEF, 82 per cent of Brazilians had access to safe water sources in 2015, increasing slightly to 86 per cent in 2020. “The public water companies installed pipe systems and donated tanker trucks to the poorest communities, installed laundries for the street population and negotiated the water billing debt. [...]the increase in water consumption has been detrimental for some communities in Algeria, water consumption increased with the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, creating a major water deficit.