Amid low surveillance rates, WHO calls for more funding for clean drinking water and sanitation

Only 12% of the countries surveyed in a new WHO analysis reported having regular surveillance of the drinking water supply in cities, leading the agency to urge more funding and investment into clean drinking water and sanitation systems for people around the world. “We call on all countries that lack essential water and sanitation infrastructure to allocate funds and human resources to build and maintain it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. Of the 115 countries surveyed in the report, more than two-thirds of the countries have plans to reach poorer populations, but only 40% of these countries actually have the funding to routinely act on those plans. Still, some 94% of the countries surveyed have policies in place for drinking water and sanitation, while close to 80% have policies in place for proper hygiene infrastructure.