WSSCC joins SWA’s global call to action for safe water, sanitation and hygiene amid COVID-19 pandemic

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) which has just recently gotten approval to evolve into the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF) is making more efforts to fulfill its mandate.

The body is joining forces with Sanitation and Water for All (SWA), and other United Nations agencies, international financial institutions and stakeholders to underline the conviction that government-led, collaborative and multi-stakeholder decision-making leads to more effective and sustainable solutions.

This has become necessary in view of the relevance of prioritizing water, sanitation and hygiene in response to COVID-19.

“Until there is a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19, there is no better cure than prevention,” a statement issued on 14 May by a global platform for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 6, Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) stressed.

According to the Executive Chair, WSSCC, Hind Khatib-Othman, WSSCC is joining the call for action to emphasize the need for a scalable and global fund that can effectively address sanitation and hygiene crisis bedeviling the world particularly low-income countries.

“Joining this vital and timely call, we are emphasizing the need for a scalable and global Fund that can effectively tackle the sanitation and hygiene crisis with a transformative, long-term approach,” said Hind Khatib-Othman.

We are urging world leaders to scale up investments in sanitation, hygiene and menstrual health through the new Sanitation and Hygiene Fund. Our goal is to provide low-income countries with the means needed to achieve sanitation and hygiene for all.”

The SWA stressed in its statement that water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), together with physical distancing, are vital to preventing the spread of COVID-19, and a first line of defense against the serious threat to lives and health systems.