July 16, 2020
Five Notes on the Inextricable Link Between WASH and COVID-19
contributor:Pallavi Bharadwaj
One of the newer sad facts about poverty is that it makes the coronavirus harder to contain.Three billionpeople do not have access to handwashing facilities at home, making it difficult to perform on the basic preventive measures to protect against infection. Global aid organizations are aware of the fact. This week, I had the fortune to attend the launch of theUnited Nations SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) 6 Global Acceleration Framework.The event aimed to mobilize UN agencies, governments, civil society, private and all other stakeholders to drive progress on SDG6, Safe Water and Sanitation for All.
In more normal times, this event may have carried less weight. However, the urgency shared by all the panelists makes one realize the inextricable link between the pandemic and need for safe, potable water and sanitation for all.
Thinking about discussions held at the conference and their place in these times, I’ve noted five takeaways on the links between WASH and COVID-19.
它没有马特er if you live in a rural or an urban setting
COVID-19 has proved to be an unfortunate reality check for the already vulnerable communities that were facing a lack of water and sanitation services globally. More than half of the world’s 8 billion people lack access to safe sanitation. We are recommended to wash our hands several times a day, however 3 billion people lack basic handwashing facilities.
I contributed to a recent study onwater, climate and the migration crisisas a reviewer. The study attempts to explain how to assess water-migration interlinkages as water and climate crises are disproportionately impacting vulnerable individuals and groups. These may include water pollution, inability to meet daily water needs, climate extremes and limited options to income generation, especially for those who largely depend on land and water resources for survival. We witnessed this first-hand in themigration labor crisis in India.
Even the most basic services and products can help save millions of lives
建立社区洗手站,而observing social distancing, can help save millions of lives in water-parched areas, especially in Africa, Asia, remote reaches of Latin America and even for theat-risk communitiesin developed countries such as the United States. Engineering for Change’s Solutions Library offers many products as simple as开云体育手机登陆平台 可以设置没有过度投资。These can be combined with innovative hand-soap providing initiatives, such asEcosoap Bank, which is trying to get soap to vulnerable communities. These relatively small initiatives have the potential to scale and save lives.
Healthcare facilities and schools are at high risk
One of the wisest steps that the leaders across the globe have taken was to shut down schools to prevent the spread of pandemic. It has been a very welcome move, as 47 percent of schools in developing countries lack handwashing facilities with soap and clean water. Even more horrifying, however, is that a similar statistic has been calculated for healthcare facilities. About 43 percent of the world’s hospitals and clinicsdo not have basic handwashing facilities. It is comparatively easy to close schools in the midst of a pandemic, but impractical to close healthcare facilities.
Nature-based solutions can alleviate some of the damage caused by the pandemic
Global orders to stay at home have led to increased deforestation and poaching in some of the world’s ecologically vulnerable areas, research suggests. Environmental destruction could lead to new outbreaks of disease that jumps from animals to people. Similarly, protecting the environment could decrease the risk of new outbreaks. Sustainable WASH infrastructure reduces the risk of environmental degradation and reveals another link between WASH and COVID-19.这个系列的文章does a good job of explaining what COVID-19 has to do with nature.
Revenue for WASH businesses has fallen, but the sector has jumped into action
One of the pandemic’s success stories is the action that the global WASH sector taken in response. The sector has implementedknowledge sharingschemes, idea exchanges and innovative financial mechanisms to solve some of the problems of the pandemic. In urban settings, revenues have declined as people struggle to pay for their utilities. However, service providers are taking steps to maintain services through the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizations such as ROCKBlue and the World Bank’sGlobal Water Security and Sanitation Partnershipare advising water utilities on theirfinancial resilience. In rural settings, most multi-lateral and bi-lateral agencies in partnerships with national governments, and ultimately community-based leaders and groups, are trying to help populations in need.
These takeaways amount to a mix of problems, insights and even some solutions. A key point that emerges, however, is that meeting the SDGs, and the world’s WASH needs in particular, was a worthy goal before the pandemic. But now it is more important than ever.
tags :COVID-19
