By Kemo Cham
The UN`s children agency Unicef is calling for a proactive approach to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in the face of an alarming trend of fatalities attributed to inadequate funding to the sector.
Unicef said many people contract water-borne diseases, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, because countries allocate inadequate funding to the sector. Children are the most vulnerable to the situation, with around 180,000 under 5 years old dying every year, representing an average of 500 deaths a day.
“With children dying every single day, with millions stunted, with such a huge economic toll, it cannot be business as usual,” said UNICEF Regional Director for West & Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine, in a statement issued ahead of a regional conference aimed at discussion financing models for WASH. The conference is being held in the Senegalese capital Dakar.
“The pace of progress has to speed up exponentially – and it’s going to take strong policies; robust financing; and a major shift in priorities among those who have the power to act,” Fontaine said in the statement copied to Politico.
According to Unicef, nearly half of the global population without access to improved drinking water lives in sub-Saharan Africa, where some 700 million people lack access to improved sanitation. The sub region, it said, only saw minor rise in access to water and sanitation, leaving millions behind. And rapidly rising populations with far less commensurate actions from governments means the situation would get worst within the next 20 years.
The Innovative Financing for Water Sanitation & Hygiene conference is being convened by UNICEF in cooperation with the Government of Senegal and the African Ministers’ Council on Water. Running from December 15 to 17, it’s designed not just to discuss ways of financing WASH initiatives, but also how to ensure action is taken in rapid fashion.
Lowest coverage
The UN estimates that between US$20 and 30 billion is needed annually to ensure universal access to water and sanitation to West and Central Africa. Representatives of 24 governments will meet with major investment banks, international organizations, businesses and experts with the aim of finding new mechanisms to raise that money.
The Agency for French Cooperation, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, have been named, among others, to take part in the conference.
The UN estimates that global economic losses due to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene amount to $260 billion per year.
“As the sub-region with the worst access, West and Central Africa carries a significant portion of this burden,” said Fontaine.
Among the issues of concern are the provision of proper toilets, ensuring access to improved drinking water and sanitation.
Unicef says no country in West and Central Africa has universal access to improved drinking water.
The UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Programme Report 2015 indicates the highest coverage rates are in Sao Tome & Principe (97%), Gabon (93%) and Cabo Verde (92%).
Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea (48%), Chad (51%) and the restive Democratic Republic of the Congo (52%) represent countries at the bottom of the table where roughly half of the population do not have access.
Access to sanitation is even more challenging. For instance, in the countries with the best coverage, like Equatorial Guinea (75%), Cabo Verde (72%), and Gambia (59%), said to be the top three, as many as 1 in 4 persons still lack adequate sanitation, said Unicef.
The lowest coverage here is in Niger (11%), Togo (12%), and Chad (12%).
The reason for the terrible state of affairs become obvious when budgetary allocations to WASH sector is looked at. According to Unicef, no African country has allocated more than 0.5 per cent of GDP to the sector.
Also, an apparent disconnect in terms of funding at the global level is responsible for the continued large disparity in access to water and sanitation. Of the US$3.8 billion Overseas Development Aid (ODA) allocated for WASH in 2012, for instance, approximately three-quarters went to water, and the remaining quarter to sanitation. Also, most ODA funding goes to countries which are already doing well, and while rural water and sanitation access is far behind urban, both external and domestic funding goes primarily to urban systems.
The Dakar conference is looking at about half a dozen financial models, all geared towards ensuring not just adequate but also timely allocation of resources.
“While we know what needs to be done, we have to figure out a way to do it faster and better,” said Fontaine.
“There are a lot of options on the table; what is not an option is to continue to allow children to pay for our lack of action.”
(C) Politico Online 15/12/15
